Ben Huson

Poole Harbour’s stunning sunsets are the inspiration for a contemporary and highly visible light display on Poole Quay this Easter. The blueness of distance is a highly imaginative piece of public art created by artist Simon Lee Dicker, a graduate of Bournemouth & Poole College.

Dicker uses LED lights to produce over 250 colours that will illuminate the old marketing suite office building adjacent to the Thistle Hotel. Over a period of three months Dicker has used a series of web-cams to capture images of sunsets and has re-presented his findings as a rolling wave of colour that will re-create the many different moods stimulated by dusk over the world’s second largest natural Harbour.

The project has been possible thanks to sponsorship from local Queens Award winning engineering company Air Bearings Limited (main sponsor), Think Signs Limited, and funding from the Art Council England’s grants for the arts programme. It is also being supported by the Council’s Arts Development office and Poole Tourism, and will run from Good Friday 21st March to Sunday 13th April, dusk till 10.00pm daily.

“Contemporary society is distanced from the ‘natural’ world through the prevalence of screen based working practice and leisure activities,” says Dicker. “this installation appropriates the technology that distances us from that world and uses it to capture and represent images of the natural world through the filter of human experience.”

For further information visit www.fireandicecreative.com.

What are you doing this summer? In fact what are you doing for the next two years?

Artist Simon Lee Dicker of Fire & Ice Creative has been in residency on River Parrett for the past ten months and would like to invite you to take part in the River Parrett Trail (re) Visited Project. If your legs are painted on or you have a valid excuse like living in another country don’t let that stop you visiting www.riverparrettrevisited.org.uk to see how the project is developing. The drawing will be live for two years so please keep an eye on the web site for the latest developments.

Simon looks forward to seeing your responses to this incredible landscape.

Click here to find out how to get involved and download a PDF art pack from the River Parrett (re) Visited web site.

I have recently launched a web site for Simon Lee Dicker at Fire & Ice as part of his River Parrett Trail Revisited project.

The aim of the project is to encourage exploration of the River Parrett Trail and its surrounding landscape through drawing and creative writing.

www.riverparrettrevisited.org.uk

The River Parrett Trail (re)visited is an interactive artwork by Simon Lee Dicker at Fire and Ice Creative is due to launch in June 2006.

The aim of the project is to encourage exploration of The River Parrett Trail and its landscape through drawing and creative writing.

www.riverparrettrevisited.org.uk

Other useful links:

• www.riverparrett-trail.org.uk
• www.somersetartweek.org.uk

Fire & Ice Creative is a multi-disciplinary practice that combines aspects of art and design to create unique solutions for the visual environment. Established in 2003 by artist Simon Lee Dicker and graphic designer Chantelle Henocq, Fire & Ice is engaged with all aspects of visual communication from corporate identity to contemporary art.

Their multi-disciplinary approach encourages projects that blur the boundaries between creative disciplines with a focus on art for public spaces, graphic design for print and web and art and design educational workshops.

Based on designs by Fire & Ice, I built their Flash web site. The site content is stored as XML files which allows the client to make minor amends to the site without any knowledge of Flash.

www.fireandicecreative.com