Southwark Council pledges £7,500 to The Cornerstone sculpture project

21 June 2019

Austin Emery is a man on a mission….this master stone mason’s latest project is called The Cornerstone.

It is a huge undertaking currently being chiselled out of 20 tonnes of stone by Austin along with local residents in a railway arch next to the Whites Grounds estate.  In the meantime, he needs to raise £89,000 to complete it and through clever crowd funding, lobbying and simply asking ordinary people to pledge just two pounds, he is very confidant of achieving this. Now that he has planning permission, the next step will be to install it on the corner of Whites Grounds and Bermondsey St complete with professional landscaping works to bed it into place.

To kick start the fund-raising, Southwark Council has pledged £7,500 out of its grant fund to Leathermarket JMB, the local community group who have commissioned Austin Emery to carry out the sculpture.

Cllr Rebecca Lury, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure, Equalities and Communities was on hand this week to visit the site and meet the artist.  She commented: “The Cornerstone is wonderful public collaboration between artist Austin Emery and the local community and beyond. I was fortunate in that I was able to see at first hand these huge pieces of stone, hand-carved by children and adult participants from the Whites Grounds Estate and areas around Bermondsey Street during open public workshops.

"Together this will form a living art heritage, connecting people across time, social and geographical boundaries. The work of yesterday’s stone masons will exist along side the contemporary work of today’s community and Austin is the man to achieve this.  Personally, I am delighted that here at the council we can make this contribution towards this excellent project.” 

In reply, Austin Emery said: “I am so proud and excited about our massive community achievement... the sculpture project over the years has engaged hundreds of people from all walks of life and now all of this is solidifying through The Cornerstone’s construction and installation onto Bermondsey Street at Whites Grounds. Our crowdfunding campaign is bringing even more people together,  chipping in to make our unique landmark a firm reality. I’m very confident that our exemplary project will attract a healthy pledge of match-funding support from the Mayor of London in the coming weeks.

"Following that, we will be in a great position to attract our final big backers to push this over the finish line and achieve our total fundraising by the close of our campaign on 12 August. I hope our work inspires and encourages other creative community groups and individuals throughout London and beyond to bring their ideas to life within their own communities in the future... to be active, engaged and connected with each other and within their built environment”.

Damian O’Brien, the London Bridge & West Bermondsey Ward Councillor who has been involved with the project since the start, said he too was thrilled the pledges were going well. He said: “There are a number of people who have invested blood, sweat and tears into this project so it is great to see it all coming together. It is also a really good example of how the local community, working with their ward councillors, can provide lasting benefit to the community through CGS funding”.

The £7,500 award has been pledged into the crowdfunding account by Leathermarket JMB.
 

Page last updated: 21 June 2019