Creating the Salter statues

Sculptor Diane Gorvin is using Instagram to reveal the creative process leading to her Salter statues. She is doing this by posting photographs taken at different stages of production.

Diane began using Instagram mainly for fellow artists: sculptors and students. It shows the complexity involved in making artwork for public sites, particularly the teamwork between the people creating the design concept and those involved in the practical production. Her Instagram page can be followed here.

She has gradually revealed one work after another, posting photos in sets of three, with the final number depending on the individual project. The most recently depicted, Glass Face for Inside Out, has only nine photos, whereas the previous one, Imagined Landscapes, has 45 photos.

The gradual posting can be confusing while it happens, as it moves from the most recent photos backwards in time through the stages of production to the original concept. Only once the posting is complete does it revert to chronological order.

The depiction of ‘Dr Salter’s Daydream’ could take over 60 photos, as this was a complicated project with the two completely new figures of Ada and Alfred being designed to fit in with the remaining originals of Joyce and the cat.

Diane’s posting of the Salter project began in May 2022 with a set of photos showing all four figures in situ on the Thames Path. More will be added so it is completed by the end of July.