National Glass Centre

Apples for Hartley Wood

Members of the public are invited to watch the final piece of Alec Finlay’s public art work and community project: 50 apples (for Hartley Wood) as it is put into position in the centre of a communal apple orchard on the Hartley Wood Estate in Sunderland.

The installation of a traditional wooden apple barrel containing glass apples will signal the completion of the public artwork commissioned by Gentoo Sunderland. The feature sits at the centre of a small orchard, developed in the communal landscaped area at the centre of the Estate. Each tree will bear a different variety of English apple. By autumn, the trees will have produced a crop of apples of varying tastes, textures and colours.

Each glass apple in the barrel is handcrafted and coloured to replicate the real apples produced by the orchard and the trees planted in residents’ gardens as part of the project. All the glass apples have been sculpted from molten glass at the National Glass Centre using traditional glass making techniques by former Hartley Wood glass makers and the NGC Glass Studio team.

Gentoo approached National Glass Centre to produce a public work for the Estate to create a lasting landmark following the development of 120 new homes in Pennywell.

Inspired by the former Wearside glass works, Hartley Wood, and the estate’s namesake, the project celebrates giving and sharing, and the Hartley Wood community is invited to nurture and harvest the orchard, sharing the growing crop of apples each year as the trees grow bigger and stronger and yield more fruit.

Artist Alec Finlay came up with the concept and the idea of planting an orchard with a barrel of glass apples at its centre. Grainne Sweeney, NGC’s Creative Director said, “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to utilise the skills of those who worked at the Hartley Wood factory and they, in turn, have generously shared their experience and knowledge with NGC’s hot glass studio team. I’m very proud of this project, which I believe serves as a real model of good practice.”

Forty residents from the Estate have been invited to collect a unique glass apple, hand-crafted at the National Glass Centre, to commemorate the project, while all are welcome to watch and celebrate the completion of the artwork and meet the artist and some of the team behind the project.

The event takes place between 10am and 1pm on Saturday 3rd July at the apple orchard on the Hartley Wood Estate, Pennywell, Sunderland.

Photo Call: Saturday 3rd July, 12-1pm
Media and press are invited to meet residents when they receive their commemorative glass apples at the celebration between 12 and 1pm. 
Address: Hartley Wood Estate, Pennywell, Sunderland.
Please RSVP to alex.evans@nationalglasscentre.com