Thousand Sketches

Neil Dawson’s sculpture in the Christchurch square. Had an idea that as I have the Sydney icons and the Wellington one, what about Christchurch? But it is not in that class for me. Not that I don’t like it. I look out my bathroom and there is a mature lancewood, and it creates a silhouette just like sections of the Chalice. It is also somewhat balanced with the tower of the Cathedral, and you’d think that being a person who descends in to alchemical depths that a chalice would suit me more than a spire. But not really in this place.

I’d like to see the square grey and flat with just the cathedral. I’d force the banks to have only human friendly shops facing the square – high incentives for foot traffic friendly places, big tax sticks for glass walls & anything that does not generate foot traffic. More cafes, pubs, galleries, tee shirt shops (we have those already).

So the chalice to me is an art display, not an iconic feature, and so it needs to find a better home. A square is not a gallery, though some works might go in a square, to build the squareness of it not to compete with it. Neil Dawson’s hanging staircase in the Arts Centre seems to enhance and not compete with the courtyard.