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Ghost pigs
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‘Ghost pigs’ is a sculpture made by the Ellis family during Nicola Ellis’ residency in her fathers inventor’s cabin, as part of a RESIDE commission 2023 in St Helens, Merseyside. <br><br>'Ghost pigs' <br>Resin and steel <br>120cm x 56cm x 6cm <br>2023<br><br>The Ellis family: <br>The Father: Paul Ellis, a recently retired service engineer of 50 years based in the Lead and Steel industries of St Helens and the wider UK. Builder and owner of the ‘inventor’s shed’. <br>The Mother: Pauline Ellis, administrator in the production of quality clothing (Northgate) and soft furnishings (Ena Shaws) factories in St Helens. <br>The Daughter: Nicola Ellis, Visual Artist working predominantly in steel and around the manufacturing systems which make and manipulate it. <br><br>The residency:<b> <br>The residency took place in Paul’s inventors cabin at the Ellis family home in short sessions over a time period of 5 months to allow consideration and conversation between sessions. The direction of the residency was guided by conversation about Paul’s experiences in local industry and teaching Nicola some of the skills he gained from this, with specific reference to working at: <br><br>Todd Steels – steel processing and stockholders, St helens. 1971 – 1979 <b>Chilko strip products – steel processing, Knutsford. 1979 – 1991 <br>British Lead Mills, St Helens. 1991 – 1995 <br>Austin Trumanns Steel – steel stockholders. 1998 – 2001 <br>Eltec, St Helens – self employed service engineer. 1995 – 2021 <br><br>This was enriched by Pauline’s contributions to the discussion about her own experiences and roles in industry, and helped increase the scope of the conversation to include how working in industry contributed to life in the wider context. <br><br>The sculpture is informed by the disappearance of major industry in the now post-industrial borough of St Helens. The making of it was fuelled by frustration in response to the limited amount of information and images documenting this former industry in local archives and from online sources, particularly in relation to British Lead Mills. <br><br>The ‘Ghost pigs’ themselves are clear resin replicas of a section of stacked of lead ingots – colloquially known as ‘pigs’ – which were a product of the British Lead Mills site in St Helens. The shorter pigs have a clear polished surface where they have been cut on the profile to make the shortened lengths. The remaining faces of the pigs are clear but retain texture from the casting process. This former site of the pig production was just metres away from the exhibition site of the sculpture now in 2023. <br><br>The project is a celebration of St Helens’ industrial history and a generation of skilled people who saw it from the 1970’s onwards. It is also a celebration of skills gained in this context transferring to contemporary creative practice through multiple generations of a family. <br><br>RESIDE Creative Commissions is the 2023 Artist Commission programme funded through St Helens Library Service as part of its Cultural Hubs Arts in Libraries programme work as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

 

‘Ghost pigs’ is a sculpture made by the Ellis family during Nicola Ellis’ residency in her fathers inventor’s cabin, as part of a RESIDE commission 2023 in St Helens, Merseyside. <br><br>'Ghost pigs' <br>Resin and steel <br>120cm x 56cm x 6cm <br>2023<br><br>The Ellis family: <br>The Father: Paul Ellis, a recently retired service engineer of 50 years based in the Lead and Steel industries of St Helens and the wider UK. Builder and owner of the ‘inventor’s shed’. <br>The Mother: Pauline Ellis, administrator in the production of quality clothing (Northgate) and soft furnishings (Ena Shaws) factories in St Helens. <br>The Daughter: Nicola Ellis, Visual Artist working predominantly in steel and around the manufacturing systems which make and manipulate it. <br><br>The residency:<b> <br>The residency took place in Paul’s inventors cabin at the Ellis family home in short sessions over a time period of 5 months to allow consideration and conversation between sessions. The direction of the residency was guided by conversation about Paul’s experiences in local industry and teaching Nicola some of the skills he gained from this, with specific reference to working at: <br>Todd Steels – steel processing and stockholders, St helens. 1971 – 1979 <b>Chilko strip products – steel processing, Knutsford. 1979 – 1991 <br>British Lead Mills, St Helens. 1991 – 1995 <br>Austin Trumanns Steel – steel stockholders. 1998 – 2001 <br>Eltec, St Helens – self employed service engineer. 1995 – 2021 <br>This was enriched by Pauline’s contributions to the discussion about her own experiences and roles in industry, and helped increase the scope of the conversation to include how working in industry contributed to life in the wider context. <br><br>The sculpture is informed by the disappearance of major industry in the now post-industrial borough of St Helens. The making of it was fuelled by frustration in response to the limited amount of information and images documenting this former industry in local archives and from online sources, particularly in relation to British Lead Mills. <br><br>The ‘Ghost pigs’ themselves are clear resin replicas of a section of stacked of lead ingots – colloquially known as ‘pigs’ – which were a product of the British Lead Mills site in St Helens. This former site was just metres away from the exhibition site of the sculpture now in 2023. <br><br>The project is a celebration of St Helens’ industrial history and a generation of skilled people who saw it from the 1970’s onwards. It is also a celebration of skills gained in this context transferring to contemporary creative practice through multiple generations of a family. <br><br>RESIDE In 2023, St Helens is Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture and as part of the 2023 programme, Reside* Creative Commissions is the 2023 Artist Commission programme funded through St Helens Library Service as part of its Cultural Hubs Arts in Libraries programme work as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

 

 

 

 

 

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