Chris Knight Metalwork

Sheaf Square, Sheffield.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd 2002

The consideration of the social and political issues surrounding public art within Sheffield is manifest within Cutting Edge. Through early involvement in the concept development stages of Sheaf Square Knight was able to consider, explore and debate the formal, historical and political context of the development in greater depth and thus was able to empathize with the human, critical viewpoint within the design rationale of the subsequent public art (Cutting edge).

The design team engaged with appropriate strategies in order to successfully qualify and capitalise on the artwork within planning strategy, economic rationale, political agenda and audience engagement.

This was achieved through reflective dialogue around the creative and political issues between the design partners and through several public consultation events.

Sheaf Square, Sheffield.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd

This piece exemplifies how emotive functions of art (a sense of place and belonging) can combine with physical functions of design (serving as street furniture). It demonstrates how early involvement within the concept stages of a master plan enables real integration of artwork into the urban and political landscape.

The concept of Cutting Edge is concerned with harmony and the relationship between the human figure and the landscape he/she inhabits. It engages with how people use and move in a space, sited in an environment primarily used by pedestrians, both transitory visitors and those who live in the city. The form and scale of Cutting Edge have been conceived, shaped and developed by the specific landscape and environment into which it is set

Approximately 89 meters long Cutting Edge maintains an horizontal line along its top allowing its height to record the incline of the hill. Its form is composed of a multitude of compound curves both longitudinal and vertical as its sweeps around the open space and metamorphoses from round to elliptical. 

Just as the form of Cutting Edge changes in response to the land so too does the relationship between it and the pedestrian as he/she moves along the incline path. 

At the top of the square the pedestrian encounters Cutting Edge as cylindrical form   approximately 1 meter in diameter. The human figure is taller, able to look over and along the top of the form - it lies supine before us. But, as we descend the incline and the form appears to grow in height, the curve of its vertical surface softens becoming ever more subtle and delicate in character until at approximately 4 meters high its section is a delicate ellipse, light and seemingly ephemeral, protecting and sheltering us.

Approaching Cutting Edge from the station the effect is reversed. The pedestrian is greeted by the elegant ellipse as the end of the form rises up to its full height, set with glorious red glass by Keiko Mukade, attracting and inviting approach. On proceeding up the incline the city is gradually revealed as the visitor emerges from the shelter of its diminishing form.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd

Project Partners: Si Applied Ltd (Knight, Payne, Tyssen), Kieko Mukado, Sheffield City Council Urban Regeneration Team, EDAW, Price Myers 3D and Jordons Engineering Ltd

Cutting Edge and the Sheaf Square regeneration has been awarded the following awards:

20010 The Academy of Urbanism Great Place Award

2008 Royal Institute of British Architects' White Rose Award for Public Realm.

2008 Marsh Award for Public Sculpture, Public Monuments and Sculpture Association.

2008 CABE Streets Award

2008 National RTPI Award

2008 Civic Trust Award

2007 Landscape Institute Local Planning Award.

2007 Landscape Institute Overall Scheme of the Year Presidents Award.

2007 Regeneration and Renewal Design Award.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd

Installed: November 2014
Art Concept: Father Andrew More O'Connor
Architect: Hans Roegele
Sculptor: Chris Knight, SI Applied, Sheffield, UK
Framing: Christopher O'Connor
Materials: Anodised Aluminium

© O'Connor, Roegele, Knight Si Applied Ltd 2014.

The Father Varela Memorial sculpture, situated on the exterior of The Church of Transfiguration on Mott Street (China Town) New York City, USA was installed in November 2014.

This collaboration between sculptor, Chris Knight, Father Andrew O'Connor (artist and Pastor) and architect Hans Roegle commemorates Father Felix Varela, the Cuban-born priest who founded the parish of the Church of Transfiguration in 1827.

Father Varela was a tireless advocate for New York's immigrant communities and in the 200-year history the Church of Transfiguration has served Irish, Italian, Latino and now Chinese New Yorkers.

The "Mandorla of Felix Varela" was commissioned by Rev. Raymond Nobiletti, Transfiguration's pastor who was joined by Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn in the dedication and blessing of the sculpture in April 2015.
The Memorial consists of a statue of Father Varela surrounded by a 'mandorla' of anodized aluminium letters that together spell out The Lord's Prayer. The base of the sculpture is fashioned from black granite from the lot used to build the September 11th Memorial. The plaque notes, "A symbol of political persecution and a beacon of religious freedom, the mandorla's intention is to offer a voice to those who suffer religious and political persecution."

An installation of 1776 etched stainless steel ‘leaves’ for Saint Mary Grand in New York. Completed in 2016 with Owen Waterhouse. Based on an original collaborative design between Father Andrew O’Connor and Chris Knight. The leaves are photo etched with images taken from an artwork based on The Beatitudes by Fr. Andrew O'Connor.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd 2016.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd 2016.

'This Year of Mercy coincides with the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. Portia’s speech in the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare’s ode to mercy, frames mercy with gentleness, an attribute of divine power. Mercy appears when it is given and is therefore subtly reciprocal, crediting acts of compassion with blessedness. It is appropriate, therefore, to blend the Beatitudes of Christ, chivaldric images of the cross with the notion of mercy.'

Fr. Andrew More O'Connor.

© Chris Knight 2016.

The leaves are randomly spaced, though with the intent to make them more dense toward the bottom of the work. Gold leafed fishing weights hold each of the 44 strands taut. Dedicated to the memory of Charles and Mary Alice O’Connor who passed away in 2013 and 2015 respectively, the artwork is a collaboration between Chris Knight, Owen Waterhouse and Fr. Andrew O’Connor, the son of Charles and Mary Alice O’Connor and the administrator of St. Mary Church. The leaves drop 19 feet from the window of the chapel of the Sacred Heart. All told there are 1776 marking the year of the American Declaration of Independence.  60 separate artworks: words of the beatitudes and crosses and symbols of faith are photo etched onto the stainless steel leaves. A 7-pointed star- shaped hole in the head of each leaf and a hand crimped ferrule holds each leaf in place on a fine steel cable that disappears form view. 

© Chris Knight 2016.

The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown:

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice.  

The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare.

South Shore Promenade, Blackpool.

© Chris Knight 2001. 

Forming part of The Great Promenade Art Show, along with works by Peter Freeman and Peter Blake, Desire explores an expression of temptation and the forbidden, the tensions and frisson of Blackpool nightlife.

‘Within my public art work I explore the seductive power of danger. The lure of the forbidden is created through imposing forms,  materials which are honest, simple and robust and temptingly uncomfortable metaphors.' 

Materials: Corten and Stainless Steel

Private commission Brewery Wharf Leeds. Corten Steel. 

© Chris Knight 2004

In response to the brief the artwork is an uplifting form intended to visually celebrate the history of the local area. The visual appearance of the piece references ears of barley whilst the manufacturing process is inspired by leatherwork techniques. Both the material and scale of the piece reference the engineering history of the surrounding area.

The Sheaf Tree project was subsequently awarded the Landscape Category at the Leeds Architectural Awards for which the public Art was particularly cited. The guest assessor, who had the final say on the awards, was Graham Morrison of the award-winning London practice, Allies and Morrison architects. In 2014 Sheaf Tree was in the final 3 projects shortlisted for the Leeds Architecture 25th Year Anniversary Award.

1/3 size replica exhibited at Jerwood Applied Arts Prize Exhibition. The Broughton Gallery Collection. 2005

Service Bay Doors. Stainless Steel. Festival Place, Basingstoke.

© Chris Knight 2002.

‘Knight's elegant design, a hugely expanded version of the metallic diapering that forms the background of medieval manuscript illuminations, is inoffensive almost to the point of banality. It is only the material - massive stainless steel - that is extravagant. The brief was crushingly prescriptive. The door had to be ram-raider-proof yet penetrable; air had to pass through it, but no mouse, rat or bird. Knight designed matching rigid rectangular grids and filled them with uniform laser-cut panels with pierced points raised like the scales of an armadillo, to repel fly-posters. Only steel could perform so many tasks at once, and present so teasing a combination of strength, viciousness and delicacy.’

It's brutal, austere, hardly the stuff of art. Yet in the hands of Antony Gormley and Anish Kapoor, steel becomes beautiful

Germaine Greer
Monday September 12, 2005
The Guardian

Car Park Grilles.

© Chris Knight 2003

Baltic Quays, Gateshead.

Service area security grilles.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd 2006.

Service area security grilles.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd 2006.

Service area security grilles.

© Chris Knight Si Applied Ltd 2006.

Bailey Street, Sheffield

Midland Mainline Station, Sheffield

© Chris Knight 1999.

Midland Mainline Station, Sheffield

© Chris Knight 1999.

St Georges Close, Sheffield City Centre

© Chris Knight 2008.

Materials: Stainless Steel and Corten Steel

Entrance gates and security railingsdesigned and produced by Si Applied Ltd. Public Art commissioned by Opal Developments to enhance the external appearance of their buildings.

This commission was to design both Railings and Gates to enhance the entrances to a student/private residential complex on St Georges Street. The construction is designed to be both intimidating to potential intruders and yet essentially decorative.

Drawing on the image of molten metal pouring from the lip of a crucible Si Applied has developed a series significant ‘posts' which enable the Railings themselves to appear light and elegant allowing visual contact between the public and private spaces.

Travel Inn, Bank Street, Sheffield.

Stainless Steel

© Chris Knight 2003.

Travel Inn, Bank Street, Sheffield.

Stainless Steel

© Chris Knight 2003.

Car Park Grilles. Stainless Steel.

© Chris Knight 1997.

Stoddard Building, Sheffield Hallam University. One of a series of Sheffield Public Arts Commissions that set out to integrate the qualities inherent in the fine craft trades into public art works. 

Car Park Grilles. Stainless Steel.

© Chris Knight 1997.

Stoddard Building, Sheffield Hallam University. One of a series of Sheffield Public Arts Commissions that set out to integrate the qualities inherent in the fine craft trades into public art works. 

Gloucester Street, St Helier Jersey.  Stainless Steel.

© Chris Knight 2009.

The intention of this artwork was to create a large scale decorative piece that would enhance the visual characteristic of Gloucester Street whilst adding a unique feature to the building. We chose the image of the fish as an icon; the fish became a logotype with which we started to play, reproduce and multiply in order to generate a forceful and vibrant 2D graphic that would attract attention and interest. The coloured logotype fish were set within a monochrome stainless steel environment to enhance their intensity, depth and movement.  

The graphic fish logotype was etched onto the glass entrance canopy and the laser cut-outs were designed into key fobs for each apartments mailbox.

Hoyland Town Hall, Barnsley.

© Chris Knight 2004.

Stainless steel, patinated brass, metal leaf, patination.

'The Birds Around Here' responded responded to the thoughts, expectancies and experiences of the local, ex-mining, community as collected by a writer in residence.  This was summarised by the words;

 'The birds around here were all black. We had to go to the seaside to see them in colour.' 

The laser cut birds are each back filled with multi coloured stainless steel or patinated/metal leafed brass which has been photo etched with collaged words and images taken by local school children and residents of Hoyland.