Keith Ackerman | Jacob’s Ladder
Keith Ackerman came to sculpture relatively late in life after a career as a Chartered Electrical Engineer. Following sculpting courses at Bradford and York colleges, including seven years with the sculptor Dominic Hopkinson, concentrating on stone carving and bronze casting as his main artistic processes. His sculptures are abstract and often made from local stone.
Jacob’s Ladder is a sculpture by Keith Ackerman which forms the centrepiece for an area of amenity space bounding Tunstall Road South Leeds. Jacob’s Ladder is a story that occurs in The Bible, The Qu’ran and The Torah that symbolises a physical connection between Earth and Heaven. There can also be a secular reading for the sculpture with the idea of steps to improvement.
This sculpture would be made using the technique of direct carving, a traditional method of sculpting stone by hand, from locally sourced limestone, thereby making a connection physically and conceptually with the bedrock of the local area.
"Stone is the direct link to the heart of the matter - a molecular link. When I tap it, I get an echo of that which we are. Then the whole universe has resonance." Isamu Noguchi
INTERVIEW
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The Process
To view images of the making process CLICK HERE
Tunstall Road land prior to the siting of Jacob’s Ladder.
Keith Ackerman | Jacob’s Ladder. (2014) Marble. Photo: Adam Glatherine
