reflections on stone

Art and Monuments

13 Dec

Esquina is a new work by Susanna Heron, situated in the extension to Furness Lodge, Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Esquina, Emmanuel College Cambridge © Susanna Heron 2023 — Esquina is positioned on the corner of Furness Lodge to catch the changing light throughout the day

Susanna was commissioned to make the work by Emmanuel College, and worked with Stanton Williams, the site architects for the new college buildings, to select a location for the work. She chose the external corner of the lodge as the sun traverses the area catching both faces, allowing her to create a shallow relief providing a light sensitive surface that is continually changing. This is one in a series of drawings carved in stone in negative relief that Susanna has been creating for over 30 years, and she is fascinated by the interplay of light and shadow, especially when making a site specific work.

The shallow relief provides a light sensitive surface

stoneCIRCLE has worked with Susanna on 3 other commissions, and Steve Vanhinsbergh, director of the company, states, “We enjoy doing Susanna’s work because it’s unique, and we work very closely with her; she is very involved with the team.”

Esquina, which means outside corner in Spanish and Portuguese, is roughly 2300mm long by 1700mm high and is made from Ancaster Hard White, a British limestone from Lincolnshire in 100mm thick blocks with the base stones in Cadeby, another British limestone. The process which she oversaw at all stages, involved taking Susanna’s 2D file with a list of depths that the stone has to be cut to. The work was then carved on the Omag machine before being taken to have the sharp corners chiselled very carefully by hand. It was then installed by stoneCIRCLE with 3mm joints.

Susanna gave a speech about the inspiration behind the work which can be viewed on her site and Ross Harrison has also made a video about the work.