Patrick Comerford
After visiting Wendy Taylor’s sculpture ‘Equatorial Sundial’ in Chandos Square in Bletchley recently, I decided to revisit her ‘Octo’ in the centre of Milton Keynes one afternoon last week.
‘Octo’ is one of two sculptures in Milton Keynes that have been listed Grade II. This stainless steel sculpture, created by Wendy Taylor in 1979-1980, is mounted on a reflecting pool in central Milton Keynes, in front of Norfolk House and Ashton House, at the corner of Saxon Gate and Silbury Boulevard.
It has been listed Grade II since 2016 because its ‘formal clarity, equipoise and a sensitivity to its setting combine to create a striking yet harmonious work.’ It is an important work within Taylor’s oeuvre. It is of historic interest as an early example of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation’s public art programme.
The sculpture also commemorates Richard Llewelyn-Davies (1912-1981), the architect who inspired the master plan for the new city of Milton Keynes.
Milton Keynes was designated a new town in 1967 and planning control was delegated to the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC). Like earlier new towns, it developed a policy of commissioning and acquiring outdoor works for public display, particularly outside buildings designed by MKDC. A significant collection was developed, including works by Elisabeth Frink, Liliane Lijn, Bernard Schottlander and Wendy Taylor.
The sculptor Wendy Taylor specialises in permanent, site-specific commissions. She is known for her sculptures in the public realm, especially in London, and she says she is one of the first artists of her generation to take art out of the galleries and onto the streets.
Her work typically consists of large sculptures that appear to be carefully balanced. Her abstract sculptures explore themes of equilibrium, materiality and fabrication. Much of her sculpture incorporates an element of illusion, such as knots created from what look like bricks or steel ‘frames; suspended in the air by chains. She views her artworks as communicative devices.
Wendy Taylor was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1945, and was an award winning student at Saint Martin’s School of Art (1961-1966). Her first solo show was in 1966 at Axiom Gallery, and she later exhibited in many group shows and solo at Angela Flowers Gallery, the Oliver Dowling Gallery, Dublin, and the Hayward Annual at Hayward Gallery. She won a gold medal in the Listowel Graphics Exhibition in Co Kerry 1977.
She has taught at Ealing School of Art (1967-1975) and the Royal College of Art (1972-1973), and she was a design consultant for the Commission for New Towns (1986-1988).
Three of her works are Grade II listed structures: her ‘Virginia Quay Settlers Monument’, her ‘Timepiece’ in Saint Katharine Docks, by Tower Bridge in London, and this ‘Octo’ sculpture and reflecting pool in Milton Keynes.
‘Octo’ has its origins in an aluminium maquette Wendy Taylor made for a full-scale work in stainless steel but with no specific commission in mind. She then made a full-scale plywood model and had the architectural photographer John Donat photograph both the maquette and model.
Derek Walker, architect to the MKDC, and Donald Ritson, assistant to the general manager Fred Lloyd Roche, noticed ‘Octo’ in John Donat’s portfolio. They visited Wendy Taylor’s studio and commissioned the work for Norfolk House and Ashton House, an office development designed by MKDC in 1978-1979 for a central site near Saxon Gate.
Wendy Taylor suggested mounting the sculpture on a reflecting pool to bridge the gap in scale between passers-by and the large office blocks, while echoing their mirror-glass surfaces. To demonstrate the importance of the water feature, the plywood model was sprayed silver and set up in her studio yard, which was flooded to simulate a reflective setting.
‘Octo’ was one of the first public artworks installed in Milton Keynes. It was unveiled in 1983 by Baroness Llewelyn-Davies (1915-1997), a Labour politician, to commemorate the role of her husband Richard Llewelyn-Davies (1912-1981), who inspired the master plan for the new city of Milton Keynes.
Lord Llewelyn-Davis was a founding partner in Llewelyn-Davies, Weeks, Forestier-Walker and Bor, the practice that prepared the master plan of Milton Keynes in 1970. He was also Professor of Architecture at the Bartlett, University College London (1960-1969), and Professor of Urban Planning and Head of the School of Environmental Studies (1970-1975). He was a grandson of the Irish journalist and MP James O’Connor (1836-1910), and a cousin of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, who were the inspiration for the Peter Pan stories by JM Barrie.
Wendy Taylor’s ‘Octo’s is a stainless steel figure-of-eight, about 4 metres high, mounted in the centre of a square reflective pool. An extruded hollow section is twisted into a Möbius strip, with a double rather than a single twist. A Möbius strip is a mathematical term describing a continuous surface created by twisting a long rectangular strip through 180º and joining the ends. This form does not have an inside or an outside, but the sculpture does not follow this form.
‘Octo’ is placed, without visible means of support, on a shallow reflecting pool. This comprises a dark slate-like platform edged by a water channel and a granite surround. A play of shifting reflections is established between the polished surface of the sculpture, its reflections in the pool, and the mirror glass of the adjacent buildings.
In all, four buildings and two sculptures in Milton Keynes are listed Grade II, making the city’s modern heritage unique. The two sculptures – MS Series no 1 by Bernard Schottlander in Bletchley and Wendy Taylor’s ‘Octo’ – were both listed in January 2016.
The first building that was listed was thecentre:mk in 2010. The housing on Silver Street, Stony Stratford, at the back of Cofferidge Close, was listed due to the threat of redevelopment in 2012. However, listing was declined for the office building and shops because they had been altered too greatly. The CMK Bus Station and the Library were listed in 2014 and 2015.
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