 | Sculpture
Tom McKendrick is an artist who worked in shipbuilding from the time when he left school in the 1960s. He has used his knowledge and experiences of shipbuilding as inspiration for some of his sculptures. One design Tom produced was inspired by a request to design a memorial to the many shipyard workers who became ill and died from asbestos poisoning.
Tom McKendrick Artist Worked in the shipyards 1963-1969. "So the local group came and said to me how would you like to build a sculpture to this? We are going to build a sculpture to people who have died of industrial diseases you know. I said right fantastic, no problem. The idea evolved that this great huge ribbed frame sort of sculpture. It's a very simple idea. If you look at a ship, it's aesthetically pleasing and beautiful as it grows from the keel up because the ribs stretch upwards almost towards heaven. All I've done in the sculpture is I've just taken these ribs and I've turned them over so you've got the thing which caresses and supports suddenly turns into a claw. It’s the same shape. It’s just that funny inversion when it all goes upside down. And industry which you loved and were proud of and all the rest of the stuff just suddenly turns over it's there and it’s there and it's going to kill you. There’s that kind of element and all. It's sinister but it's got a kind of sinister beauty. That sums up shipbuilding. You can be fantastically proud of what you've built you know, grown men cry at launches and all that kind of stuff… but at the same time as your doing this you're being slowly poisoned in the atmosphere your living in you know.. " |  | A drawing of what the asbestos memorial sculpture may look like |
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