NEW ARTWORK UNVEILED AT THE GRAND THEATRE
24-07-2006 | Author: Thespiad
A new sculpture was unveiled at the Grand Theatre today.
A bust of the theatre’s late-President, Burt Briggs, has been created by master sculptor James Coupe. The sculpture was commissioned by Burt’s daughters: Jennifer Jay, a trustee of the Grand Theatre, and Josephine Ritson.
Burt Briggs (1912-2004) was the founder of the Friends of the Grand in 1972, when he inspired the campaign to save the Grand Theatre from demolition. An active supporter of this theatre for thirty-two years, he was Vice-President and then President of Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust. A former prisoner of war in Japan and Blackpool bank manager, Burt was a grandson of Alderman William Henry Broadhead, pioneer of Blackpool Variety theatre and manager of sixteen theatres. At the time of his death, Burt had been researching the history of this ‘bread and butter’ tour. The Broadhead-Briggs archive is deposited at the Grand Theatre, and is being researched by a doctoral student from Manchester University.
At a reception held for invited guests, Grand Theatre chairman David Coupe said, “The writer Mary Wesley said: ‘I have no patience with people who grow old at sixty just because they are entitled to a bus pass. Sixty should be the time to start something new, not put your feet up.’ Well, Burt was about sixty when he found out they were about to demolish the Grand Theatre. He didn’t put his feet up. This man of extraordinary energy and passion gathered the troops and, to use one of his favourite expressions, ‘did something about it’.
“Not content with ‘doing something about it’ and saving the theatre he loved, he spent the remaining thirty years of his life making sure that the Grand was here to stay. Throughout all these endeavours he was outspoken, outrageous, determined and successful. We all loved and admired him for it. Burt often used to comment, ‘At my age you can do and say whatever you like. I do not need to be on my best behaviour. I have nothing to lose’. He used this to the best advantage of the Grand Theatre. Nobody was too exalted to receive the Burt Briggs treatment. He wrote to and spoke with ministers of the Crown, captains of industry, Bernard Delfont and other leaders of show business, arts and heritage, grant-making bodies, councillors and their officers and anyone who had the power or the influence to help the Grand. And they did – Burt made sure about that!
“However, it has to be said that Burt's approach sometimes gave rise to palpitating moments. When we were entertaining important visitors to the theatre with carefully arranged speeches, Burt would suddenly stand up and make an impromptu speech. Sometimes he would give the visitors a good telling off for not supporting the Grand Theatre. Burt invariably got away with this. His seniority and passion for the Theatre carried the day and often resulted in the support being forthcoming.”
David Coupe continued, “Throughout his long association with the Grand until his death at the ripe old age of ninety-two, he kept all the managers of this theatre, its chairmen and trustees constantly on their toes. Burt’s bust is cast in bronze. Bronze, like Burt, is very enduring. It needs to be. Thanks to Burt the Grand Theatre is going to be here for a very long time. For as long as the Grand exists his bust will remain here in pride of place reminding us of the man whose indomitable spirit saved our beautiful theatre.”
Grand Theatre manager Paul Iles said, “Burt Briggs was one of the last great mavericks. As David has said, he not only spearheaded the fight to save the Grand from the wrecker’s ball, he also conceived the campaign to reopen the theatre in community ownership. His bust is located in the vestibule to the Dress Circle bar. Lots of diplomatic work occurs in board meetings and other formal settings. But this snug has been the scene of campaigning, entertaining and lobbying. Burt often entertained politicians and supporters here, knowing that the atmosphere was theatrical.”
Paul thanked sculptor James Coupe, and Jennifer Jay and Josephine Ritson for their sponsorship. He added, “The bust is a remarkable likeness to Burt. It might be simple to replicate a subject’s features, but this sculpture radiates Burt’s character. We are forever in his presence. We will never forget his credo!”
See Burt Briggs' memoir about the Saving of the Grand Theatre.
The bust of Burt Briggs was an unusual commission for James Coupe. He was educated in fine art at the University of Edinburgh and creative technology at the University of Salford. His recent art installations have included appropriative powerline networks, parasitical cellular phone agents, autonomous robot systems, self-organising telephone call centres, and a data-driven viral war machine distributed simultaneously across nine art galleries. His most recent exhibition, at the Edinburgh Festival, involved four computers autonomously searching the internet for metaphysical knowledge and singing the results of their quest out into a gallery.
His work has been exhibited throughout the UK and abroad, including IDEA (Manchester), Camden Arts Centre (London), The Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art (Sunderland), Artsadmin (London), Custard Factory (Birmingham), Aspex (Portsmouth), Artsway (Sway), Lighthouse (Poole), Folly Gallery (Lancaster) and Stills Gallery (Edinburgh). He has received numerous commissions that include New Contemporaries, Metapod, Low-Fi, SCAN and Lancaster City Council. Originally from Lytham St. Annes, James is based in Seattle, where he is a Research Fellow at the Center for Digital Art and Experimental Media, University of Washington.
James Coupe’s methods and materials
The materials and methods involved in the bust of Burt Briggs are the same as those used to make sculptures for thousands of years. From a number of sittings with Burt, the artist produced a clay model. The model was then moved to Bronze Age Foundry in London, where a traditional ‘lost wax’ technique was performed. First, a reinforced plaster mould was made of the clay sculpture, to allow multiple copies of the bust to be cast. At that point, the original clay was discarded. The mould was filled with wax which, once hardened and released from the mould, was an exact replica of the clay model. Rods of wax were then attached to the wax bust, which later acted as channels for bronze to enter and air to leave. The wax was covered with a ceramic shell, which was able to withstand high temperatures. Once the ceramic shell set, it was baked in a kiln, which had the affect of hardening the shell and melting the wax to leave behind a cavity that was a negative impression of the original bust (hence “lost wax”). Liquid bronze was then poured into the cavity via the channels, and allowed to cool. The ceramic shell was broken off, then the bronze underneath was re-finished, the channels were removed, and a patina was applied.
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