William Clowes
At such times, too, his face flamed with augmented blazonry,
as if cannel coal had been heaped on anthracite.
‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’, Herman Melville, 1852
‘William Clowes’ is one of a small number of sculptures which were produced as part of the Song for Coal project. These are made from hand-carved British cannel coal, some of the last to be mined in the British Isles during the previous century.
Cannel coal is a special kind of coal made from the resins, spores, waxes and corky materials of plants which accumulated in the peat-forming swamps and bogs of the Carboniferous period. It occurs in shallow seams that are often found above other deposits. The coal itself, being rich in oils, burns with a bright yellow flame and produces little ash. For this reason Cannel Coal was once used as a source of light to substitute for more expensive wax candles. Indeed its name is a corruption of the phrase ‘Candle Coal’.
It’s pedigree as an artist’s material is impressive having been used for jewellery since the neolithic, with pieces appearing in Scotland from before 3500BC and there are examples of it being used for sculptures from the medieval and modern periods. Busts of Henry VIII in cannel coal produced by British artist Robert Town can be found in the British Museum and the V&A London. We borrowed one example for our 2018 show ‘In the Family of the Carbons’ and showed it alongside ‘Darkness, Weakness, Poverty and Barbarism’.
The sculpture’s title is taken from the name of a 19th Century British Methodist preacher who co-founded the ‘Primative Methodists’, a radical breakaway church which criticised the Wesleyan orthodoxy of the day.
Working within coal mining districts in the north of England William Clowes, along with Hugh Bourne, had held open-air revivalist meetings in the first decade of the 19th Century. The Wesleyan Church reprimanded Bourne and Clowes and, refusing to cease holding open-air meetings, they were dismissed from the church. They went on to found the Primitive Methodists in 1810. The name is meant to indicate a form of worship true to Wesley and the "original" Methodists, particularly in reference to open-air meetings and allowing female ministry. Primitive Methodists played an important role in the formative phase of the Trade Union movement in England and amongst the various Methodist groupings it was the one most associated with the industrial working class in Great Britain. The fact they also allowed women to serve as ministers and preachers was a notable development in the process of women's emancipation.
The sculpture evokes the memory of Clowes, his open air preaching and a now forgotten era of early industrial Britain. An era in which the development of heavy industry and working class communities went hand in hand with a wave of religious fervour.
The sculpture consist of two elements, the figurine of William Clowes and the rock upon which he stands.
William Clowes
Cannel coal
2015
Dimensions: 173 × 182 × 152 mm
At such times, too, his face flamed with augmented blazonry,
as if cannel coal had been heaped on anthracite.
‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’, Herman Melville, 1852
‘William Clowes’ is one of a small number of sculptures which were produced as part of the Song for Coal project. These are made from hand-carved British cannel coal, some of the last to be mined in the British Isles during the previous century.
Cannel coal is a special kind of coal made from the resins, spores, waxes and corky materials of plants which accumulated in the peat-forming swamps and bogs of the Carboniferous period. It occurs in shallow seams that are often found above other deposits. The coal itself, being rich in oils, burns with a bright yellow flame and produces little ash. For this reason Cannel Coal was once used as a source of light to substitute for more expensive wax candles. Indeed its name is a corruption of the phrase ‘Candle Coal’.
It’s pedigree as an artist’s material is impressive having been used for jewellery since the neolithic, with pieces appearing in Scotland from before 3500BC and there are examples of it being used for sculptures from the medieval and modern periods. Busts of Henry VIII in cannel coal produced by British artist Robert Town can be found in the British Museum and the V&A London. We borrowed one example for our 2018 show ‘In the Family of the Carbons’ and showed it alongside ‘Darkness, Weakness, Poverty and Barbarism’.
The sculpture’s title is taken from the name of a 19th Century British Methodist preacher who co-founded the ‘Primative Methodists’, a radical breakaway church which criticised the Wesleyan orthodoxy of the day.
Working within coal mining districts in the north of England William Clowes, along with Hugh Bourne, had held open-air revivalist meetings in the first decade of the 19th Century. The Wesleyan Church reprimanded Bourne and Clowes and, refusing to cease holding open-air meetings, they were dismissed from the church. They went on to found the Primitive Methodists in 1810. The name is meant to indicate a form of worship true to Wesley and the "original" Methodists, particularly in reference to open-air meetings and allowing female ministry. Primitive Methodists played an important role in the formative phase of the Trade Union movement in England and amongst the various Methodist groupings it was the one most associated with the industrial working class in Great Britain. The fact they also allowed women to serve as ministers and preachers was a notable development in the process of women's emancipation.
The sculpture evokes the memory of Clowes, his open air preaching and a now forgotten era of early industrial Britain. An era in which the development of heavy industry and working class communities went hand in hand with a wave of religious fervour.
The sculpture consist of two elements, the figurine of William Clowes and the rock upon which he stands.
William Clowes
Cannel coal
2015
Dimensions: 173 × 182 × 152 mm
At such times, too, his face flamed with augmented blazonry,
as if cannel coal had been heaped on anthracite.
‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’, Herman Melville, 1852
‘William Clowes’ is one of a small number of sculptures which were produced as part of the Song for Coal project. These are made from hand-carved British cannel coal, some of the last to be mined in the British Isles during the previous century.
Cannel coal is a special kind of coal made from the resins, spores, waxes and corky materials of plants which accumulated in the peat-forming swamps and bogs of the Carboniferous period. It occurs in shallow seams that are often found above other deposits. The coal itself, being rich in oils, burns with a bright yellow flame and produces little ash. For this reason Cannel Coal was once used as a source of light to substitute for more expensive wax candles. Indeed its name is a corruption of the phrase ‘Candle Coal’.
It’s pedigree as an artist’s material is impressive having been used for jewellery since the neolithic, with pieces appearing in Scotland from before 3500BC and there are examples of it being used for sculptures from the medieval and modern periods. Busts of Henry VIII in cannel coal produced by British artist Robert Town can be found in the British Museum and the V&A London. We borrowed one example for our 2018 show ‘In the Family of the Carbons’ and showed it alongside ‘Darkness, Weakness, Poverty and Barbarism’.
The sculpture’s title is taken from the name of a 19th Century British Methodist preacher who co-founded the ‘Primative Methodists’, a radical breakaway church which criticised the Wesleyan orthodoxy of the day.
Working within coal mining districts in the north of England William Clowes, along with Hugh Bourne, had held open-air revivalist meetings in the first decade of the 19th Century. The Wesleyan Church reprimanded Bourne and Clowes and, refusing to cease holding open-air meetings, they were dismissed from the church. They went on to found the Primitive Methodists in 1810. The name is meant to indicate a form of worship true to Wesley and the "original" Methodists, particularly in reference to open-air meetings and allowing female ministry. Primitive Methodists played an important role in the formative phase of the Trade Union movement in England and amongst the various Methodist groupings it was the one most associated with the industrial working class in Great Britain. The fact they also allowed women to serve as ministers and preachers was a notable development in the process of women's emancipation.
The sculpture evokes the memory of Clowes, his open air preaching and a now forgotten era of early industrial Britain. An era in which the development of heavy industry and working class communities went hand in hand with a wave of religious fervour.
The sculpture consist of two elements, the figurine of William Clowes and the rock upon which he stands.
William Clowes
Cannel coal
2015
Dimensions: 173 × 182 × 152 mm