The Corner is a long-term project conceived by BasementArtsProject; designed to encourage regeneration in a neglected corner of South Leeds, at the same time tackling anti-social behaviour and environmental issues through art, artistic practice and practical engagement.

This new pocket park came about as a result of a series of projects put forward for the Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019. The projects involved artists Keith Ackerman, Phill Hopkins, Dominic Hopkinson and Jadene Imbusch and came under the banner of ‘On The Corner’. 

How To Get Involved

Four of the five projects on ‘The Corner’ looked at issues around homelessness; a burgeoning issue nationally for a few years by this point, but acutely felt here in South Leeds.

A CULTURAL GATEWAY

The Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019 took place in the cities of Leeds and Wakefield. As an event it looked at the sculptural heritage of Yorkshire. The Corner upon which BasementArtsProject has sat for the last twelve years lies at the entrance and exit of the M621/M1. This motorway junction connects Leeds to Wakefield and London; Beeston is a literal gateway between these major cultural hubs. ‘On The Corner’ stood as an opening gambit in a project designed to revitalise an often neglected corner of Leeds.

Phase I

Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019

Phase II

Jacob’s Ladder (2022) Tadcaster Limestone. Keith Ackerman

Project four set the template for ‘The Corner’ Pocket Sculpture Park. For this we have commissioned sculptor Keith Ackerman to create a scaled up version of his 2014 sculpture ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. This would then form the centrepiece of a miniature sculpture garden at the heart of the community.

Access All Areas

Over the last three years it has been important to continue engaging the community, even throughout the pandemic, with the idea of an outdoor community space that has an artwork as its main focus. Keith Ackerman, John Barber and BasementArtsProject have worked on average two days a week since May 2021, onsite at the edge of the road, we have had so many great conversations with the public about the project, the support has been overwhelming.

Even indoors, within the confines of BasementArtsProject we have always been a project that sees itself in the context of social action; an experimental venue that pushes the boundaries in terms of the work it presents, meanwhile focusing on the concept of access to art for the working classes and other marginalised groups.

From the many conversations that I have had with the people of the South Leeds community over the last twenty-two years, it has become apparent that the majority do not have access through the channels that many would normally come to art such as the gallery environment. Having lived in this community for more than two decades now I can also see that very little has changed on that front, and why would it?

Of course, this is not to suggest that a sculpture has single-handedly gentrified the area, that would be ridiculous and not true. But, it has made a difference. People have responded to the presence of this park with respect and appreciation.

Sunday 17th July COMMUNITY LAUNCH DAY

Carving ‘On The Corner’

Public Drop-in and booked Workshops

Within weeks of getting ‘Jacob’s Ladder upright we had begun the participatory aspect of the project. Taking the method used on Jacob’s Ladder we have invited people to come and join us as we turn the other two slabs of stone into benches for the community to sit on.

Working on the benches during the first week, a group of young lads come up to the fence and start reading the information panels. Two of the group are probably in their late twenties and the third looks maybe about nineteen. All three had close cropped hair, tracksuit bottoms and no shirts on. The older lads looked like they spend a lot of time in the gym with their rippling muscles. I approach them and explain what we are doing.

 
Ah wow, that's amazing that

The younger lad is looking quizzically at the sign and seems to be struggling to read the number

Two hundred and sixty thousand years old

Two hundred and sixty million years old

I correct him

What, is there like dinosaurs in that?

It’s older than the dinosaurs I tell him

What you mean like cavemen and stuff

His mate’s laugh at him, although kindly

Cavemen came after the dinosaurs.

All looking at him and laughing uproariously

They don’t teach ‘em anything in school now you know

I offer them the chance to come and have a go, motioning in the direction of John and Keith who are working away at one of the stones with an air chisel.

We’re going out for the day but we’ll come back next week

We’re here on Monday I tell them as they head off down the street towards the shops

Phase III

Nature of Balance

The pandemic lockdown has forced many changes upon this project, having been forced into isolation, locked out of the quarry and therefore having to deal with a project, the scale of which is bigger than anything we have ever done before, on a completely different timeframe. What we hoped we could do in a year and a half has stretched out to three years. The sculpture ‘Nature of Balance’ by Dominic Hopkinson is the last of the Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019 projects to be realised and we hope to do this during 2023.

When Keith Ackerman came to sculpting in his late fifties he found himself at York College being taught by Dominic Hopkinson. At an earlier stage in his career Hopkinson had been a technician working for the sculptor Peter Randall-Page. With Keith Ackerman having completed Jacob’s Ladder with John Barber as assistant technician, we made a decision to have Barber as the man leading the bench carving workshops, with Ackerman as ‘his glamorous assistant’. The point of this being, about the possibilities of serving time on projects as an artist and using that time served as a means of stepping into the next role. Just as Hopkinson had done with Randall-Page, Ackerman had done with Hopkinson, now Barber takes from Ackerman the mantle of lead artist. 

And this returns us to the point that I made earlier on, about art as a source of employment and engagement alongside its functions as a form of enjoyment and education. 

Now John and Keith are taking their knowledge and skill and passing it on to the next generation of people who may have never realised that such options were open to them. Sometimes it is not the technology of the future that opens people's eyes to a new future but the skills of the past, the idea that regardless of innovations we will always be needed and that we all can bring something to the table.

Beyond The Corner

LEEDS 2023 & Beyond . . . 

BasementArtsProject acknowledges the role of sculpture in the public realm; the possibilities for engagement with art practice outside of the gallery setting, the beautification of inner city areas with little access to green and quiet space, the educational aspects of art, and the potential to widen the experiences of those who do not normally access the culture of the city.

With this in mind Jacob’s Ladder is the beginning of our public art projects rather than an end. Jacob’s Ladder may be upright and in place but we have a plethora of projects in the pipeline. Below is a brief breakdown of some of the projects that we are trying to achieve over the next couple of years. We will of course be continuing to produce our regular BasementArtsProject programme in tandem with this external programme of work.

We also aim to create a South Leeds Art Trail and associated ArtWalk, with enough sites to be able to connect the art of South Leeds to the art of the city centre.

LEEDS 2023 - A Blank Canvas

About 30 yards down the road from Jacob’s Ladder is a potential blank canvas. BasementArtsProject are embarking on a different type of project with print artist Chloe Harris. Her Route Motif project at BasementArtsProject in May 2023, is the first step in creating a fine art mural based on the monuments and architecture of the city of Leeds

We are also already in discussion regarding a piece for this bit of land a bit further down Dewsbury Road.

Jacob’s Ladder has been supported by