Carving On The Corner

The Corner is a public art project centred around the sculpture ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ by artist Keith Ackerman, commissioned by BasementArtsProject as part of the Yorkshire Sculpture International and Index Festival of Visual Art in 2019.

The project was designed to create a magnificent and monumental stone sculpture around which we would fashion a ‘pocket sculpture park’ thus regenerating an abandoned tract of land here in South Leeds.

A year down the line and the land is unrecognisable as to what it had been previously.

Having got ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ upright and in place during July 2022, we then embarked on the public engagement aspect to create a set of stone benches echoing the forms of the sculpture and employing the same techniques to make them. Between September and December 2022 many members of the public either booked, or stopped by when passing on their way to the shops, to learn some pop the skills behind stone carving.

With one bench almost finished, we are at the polishing stage with it, we have begun the second and final of the benches.

Led by sculptor John Barber, who was assistant on ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ and assisted by Keith Ackerman we are inviting you to book or just stop by, and spend some time with us. If you ever wondered what it would be like to carve some 260,000,000 year old limestone then this is the project for you. Each session lasts 1 hour and you will have 1-2-1 time with John and Keith who will direct you in the ways of direct carving, power tools and polishing.

Host or Publisher BasementArtsProject