I am a sculptor who has a fascination with the cross over between art and music. I believe that the music created over the last 60 years is worth celebrating and documenting. The concept of the IOW festival art work is to collect the hand prints of musicians who performed at the Isle of Wight Festival 1968 -1970 and mosaic them on to a large panel. ( 2.5 mtr X 1.5 mtr.) I estimate that I can fit 80 -100 hand prints on to the panel.
All the musicians who performed at the IOW festival are between 70 - 80 years of age, and now with the 50th Anniversary of the biggest music and arts festival of all time .. Isle of Wight 1970. This is the time to celebrate those musicians who wrote the soundtrack to our time.
This is a 2 year project that started in 2018 and will follow the festival timeline by finishing in time for 50th anniversary of the 1970 concert . This panel will be back stage at this years IOW festival where I will be able to get some feedback from the press and artist performing.
The art of mosaicing goes back thousands of years and the hand print as a symbol of humanity can be seen in cave paintings, across the world. I am following in a tradition that spans many millenia. Each hand is unique and is moulded by the strumming of a guitar or the banging of a drum. Symbols and colours often selected by the musicians are inserted into the hand print, creating an art work that illustrates the broad heritage of the IOW festival.
I have spent 44 years exploring the crossover with music and art, eventually taking my Pop Icons project on to BBC's Dragons Den in 2008, where I secured funding from three Dragons. Thanks to Peter, Theo, James and the BBC for giving me a platform that allows me to keep on creating sculptures.
I am crowdfunding this sculpture project in order that I can continue working on the sculpture for the next year. The money raised will go to completing, researching and publicising this project. The panel will then be shown as part of a larger exhibition that will include photography, paintings and sculpture.
There are plans to build a dedicated museum to the history of Isle of Wight festival, this sculpture will be an exhibit in the new museum.
I would like to thank John Giddings of Solo Management, Dimbola Museum who hold the archive to the festival, Marshall Amps , Neil Everest from Cameron Life photography, Wight Link Ferries, Victoria Hansen and David Longfield on the research, and all the musicians who have donated hand prints so far.
With thanks,
Guy Portelli