Hi there,

I suppose I best off introduce myself. My name is Ronald Summers and I am new here. I live in the small village of Piddlehinton in Dorset in the UK. I have spent most of my adult life designing and creating giant sculptured art pieces that are currently stored in one of my parent’s barns.

For the last six years I have been looking for not only somewhere to store my pieces (my parents need the barn back!) but also for somewhere where they will be available for the public to see. Despite being very proud of my creations I have never felt right about letting anyone else see them. This includes my parents. I am sure you all can understand why this has caused numerous arguments in our family over the last few years.

I sometimes get the feeling that my father has in fact seen my giant creations – he keeps calling me Jack and regularly offers me beans for tea. I think he is trying to make a joke but I’ve not understood his sense of humour since that accident on the farm.

Two months ago my life took a turn for the better – I approached a gallery in Belgium with a few photos of my creations. Much to my surprise they said they were interested in possibly displaying some of my pieces in one of the taller parts of their gallery building.

What they have said is that they would like to have three of my pieces but that only two of my current ones are suitable. They want me to create a new one which they would take along with the two they have already chosen. I explained to them that I will find it difficult to create another as my “Giants” collection was effectively complete. I asked whether or not it would be OK if I talked to other people about ideas for my last “Giant” sculpture and they said that it was in fact a good idea. I want to pitch my initial thoughts and all I ask is for your opinions.

My main idea is to create a 12 foot wood and wax sculpture of a Shire horse. As with the rest of my sculptures it will have two slightly “interactive” elements. The first of these will be that when you walk behind the sculpture you will see a hidden flight of stairs which lead up to the head. The sculpture will really only accommodate one person at a time but I am sure the gallery would be able to work something out with this. When someone climbs the stairs and reaches the head they will find a small hole in the front of the sculpture. Here they will follow the instructions and look through the hole. The hole has a magnifying lens which will mean the view through the hole will be distorted.

Anybody looking at the sculpture from the front will know that the hole in the sculpture is in place of one of the horse’s eyes and therefore when someone at the back looks through, the hole is filled with a magnified human eye.

The second “interactive” aspect to my sculpture will introduce the element of surprise. I want the sculpture to be able to urinate when somebody ventures underneath the rear of the animal. This I suppose will be triggered by some sort of movement sensor. I guess for this I would need to be able to find a supplier of horse urine in Belgium somewhere.

This is a basic explanation of what I hope I will be able to create for the gallery but would change my mind quickly if people’s initial responses were of a negative nature.

I thank you in advance of any responses

Ron Summers