HOME   Press for HOME 'Jeanette Sendler' in Gothic Script

Exhibition
April - May 2008
Da Gadderie, Shetland Museum & Archives, Lerwick, Shetland

At the Quarry ...

 
Jeanette working on the installation in her studio in Newburgh, Fife

“7 Minutes of Explosion” is the period of time from the sounding of the quarry siren to signal that the shot is about to be fired, to the sounding of the “all clear” once it has been decided that the blast has gone well and it is safe to return into the quarry.

Billy Butler, Scord Quarry Manager 2008

Barbara working on the installation in Jeanette’s studio in Newburgh, Fife

Barbara stretches a red fabric piece across grey gravel

 

On seeing the quarry for the first time one sees a mass of grey, especially on a grey day. But the eye adjusts. Soon one can discern many greys, then, as one can appreciate the detail of a black and white photograph, a beauty of subtlety opens up.

We wanted to capture this subtlety with grey pieces as well as explode it with flashes of red. The results were moving. As the quarry is a working environment, the constant noise of the conveyers and the trucks became a soundtrack. Misty days were some of the most moving. With numbed sound and dream like greyness one’s sense of reality is challenged. The long grey knitted pieces gave a new softness to the hard environment, though their colour made them seem almost as if they were meant to be there. Then, accustomed to all this subtlety, the blood red knitted pieces tugged viscerally at the heart. It was hard to stop looking.

 Grey knitted ‘spine’ accentuating a subtle gravel ridge

The mounds of gravel are never the same for long. The quarry, like the sky, is a constantly moving painting. Gravel is mounded here, dug away there. Fresh gravel may be dry or wet, creating wonderful shades which change almost as one watches.

Piles are different. Different in grade, different in shade, different in size and shape.

Jeanette Sendler & Barbara Ridland
Grey knitted ‘spine’ running across concrete at the edge of the quarry conveyer workings
Strands of red spiders web running from the dark red machine knitted piece over the grey gravel

Jeanette & Barbara

Jeanette Sendler was Artist in Residence in Shetland for 3 months in the spring of 2005 yet met Shetlander, Barbara Ridland just an hour before the boat was to set sail to take her home. They had just 20 minutes together yet fused to forge a bond which would grow into a powerful mixing of artistic passions & fiber skills. Meeting on Shetland - four times a year, they swapped skills & ideas, Barbara developing a range of accessories and furnishings & Jeanette learning creative machine knitting skills.
Striking red knitted piece slashes through the greyness of the quarries many gravel heaps

 
 
   
Natural sheep’s fleece rolled & perched atop a gravel mound

The Scord Quarry

The Scord Quarry, situated just outside Scalloway, was first opened in 1936 by Alex Robertson of Dunfermline. It was one of a number of quarries opened as part of the Zetland County Council’s programme for widening and surfacing the roads of Shetland. After the war it was operated directly by the Zetland County Council, transferring over to the Shetland Islands Council after amalgamation in 1975.

The stone in the quarry is described as ”a colour banded semipelitic phyllite with intercalations of quartzite and schistose grit.”It is a very hard and durable rock".

The apparently harsh quarry environment has been the work place for a good number of Shetland men, bringing in much needed income to many Shetland families.Up to 25 men have been employed at the quarry at any one time. In 2008 10 are working there. In the early years the work was seasonal. The men would be paid off before the winter weather arrived.

The first workers did not have the heavy machines that are used today. Blasted rock was broken down to manageable lumps using hand hammers; the rock was loaded by hand or by fork into bogies (trolleys). The bogies were pushed across the floor of the quarry, then pulled by winch up to a stone crusher. The stone was tipped out of the bogie which was then pushed back to the rock face to be refilled. A full day’s work of hard manual labour would produce 100 tons aggregate. Today 1,500 tonnes a day can be produced using diesel engine powered trucks and loaders.

The quarry’s primary role has always been to produce Tarmac and Aggregates for the surfacing of Shetland’s roads. Other materials are supplied to crofters, builders, civil engineering projects and the public. The way explosives are used in quarrying has changed dramatically from those early days. Modern explosives, new blasting techniques and tight control on the day of the blast have all but eliminated the fear of an “incident”.

Wildlife appears to thrive in this environment; birds in particular are quick to build their homes in any area of the quarry that lies dormant.

Billy Butler, Scord Quarry Manager 2008

Close up of Vivid blood red knitting puncturing the greyness of the landscape

 

3 Clinton Street
Newburgh, Fife
Scotland KY14 6DP
email: Jeanette
landline: 01337 841004
shop: 01738 624213
mobile: 07813 023607
photography & webpage: davejford
Face though Ice Block