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Notes
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This work was built in front of a new student accommodation block called Opal 1, on the site of former tenements that housed jute workers. Artist and glassmaker Adrienne McStay, inspired by the bobbins that held the thread used to make the jute fabric, designed the sculpture from steel rod and glass beads. There are 498 glass beads threaded onto 'The Bobbin', representing each student living in Opal 1. McStay also designed the work to be lit with an internal blue light at night. Adrienne worked with the artist/blacksmith company P. Johnson & Co to develop the conceptual design; they were responsible for fabrication and installation. To create the work, a four metre tall wooden former was made at Ratho Byres Forge. One thousand, four hundred and twenty eight metres of round bar were then wrapped around the former to represent the the skeletal bobbin shape and the jute threads wrapping the bobbin.
Title
The Bobbin
Date
2010
Medium
metal & glass
Accession number
DD1_DO_S019
Acquisition method
commissioned by Opal Property Group Ltd and Abertay Unversity in 2010 under Dundee City Council's Percent for Public Art
Work type
Sculpture
Owner
Dundee District Council
Unveiling date
2010
Access
at all times