Last updated at 14:43, Wednesday, 30 May 2012

When you walk into Ben Gates’ workshop you’re not quite sure where to look first.

Ben Gates his mid vibes instrument

Trumpets are stacked up on a high shelf, there’s a colourful elephant head mounted on the wall and then there are the xylophones, chimes, steel structures and even milk churns.

There are also boxes stacked up, with labels such as ‘music wire’, ‘percussion 1’, ‘shaker maker’ and ‘hot rod sticks’.

Some of the objects are waiting to be used while others are attached to each other to make ‘sound structures’.

This is 10 years worth of collecting and recycling from things people have given him and the result of time spent searching though tips.

“It’s organised chaos,”Ben, 36, laughs. “It’s the little things you throw out that I can make something out of.

“It winds me up how much people chuck away, all these things will be used for something.”

Ben has a passion for sound and music and he recycles items to create sound-making contraptions and sculptures which he takes out onto the streets for ‘walkabouts’, to events and festivals and workshops for children, young people and adults.

“The artist has adapted to doing things such as outdoor theatre,” he says. “It brings it to people who may not go to a gallery or theatre.

“It’s good to see someone smile at something you’ve done.”

His wind pump organ for children is made using hose sprays, a balloon, rubber gloves and a camping pump and while Ben admits it’s still a ‘work in progress’, it does make a sound.

There are several ‘sound structures’ by the door – colourful lengths of plastic piping connected together like Meccano which make panpipe type sounds – these are what he will be taking out to Carlisle city centre next week.

The group of plastic sheep sitting on his table are waiting to be transformed into something that will make a sound and incorporated into one of his sculptures.

When he takes the sound sculptures out to workshops he gets groups to help him construct the sculpture before using it to make music.

“I could never remember how they went together,” he explains. “So I thought of getting children to help put the kit together and then use it to make sound.

“They get excited, it’s something they can use. I can see their eyes light up – children don’t make things anymore.

“I was just building to start with. It wasn’t creative. This gives them confidence, they’re using their brains to make something.

“There are no rules, you can do what you want with whatever is there. I get a lot out of making and I want to give it to people.”

Ben moved to Carlisle from Ipswich to study fine arts at Cumbria Institute of the Arts 11 years ago and his skill for making things runs in the family.

“My dad taught me to weld when I was 10,” he says. “He was a maker.

“His passion was to construct and build things.

“A lot of people who’ve been to college don’t ever find something they can get their teeth into.

“The idea of making musical instruments was like gold dust.

“You don’t need to know anything about music to play them as you can use your in-built rhythm.”

When Ben was studying he made a large harp which he electrified through a sound system and although it’s now at a friend’s house, he has never sold it.

He was asked to do workshops for youth groups which meant he had to start working with plastics.

Ben works from drawings but says he always comes across problems when he’s making things.

“It’s about experimenting,” he explains. “When you’re using recycled items you’re not as precious about them so you can do this.”

While Ben says he’s had a lot of learning to do to tune the instruments, he does know what he’s doing.

He is a percussionist, playing Brazilian and African music and was part of Gong Wong Community Disco Band in Carlisle – it’s not running now but Ben is keen to get the idea of a community band off the ground again.

He has also built giant outdoor instruments and sculptures for parks.

In 2010 he was commissioned by Hull City Council to develop a natural play site and he made sound sculptures with local youth groups, using stainless steel to make it robust.

Following on from this success he created a sound sensory installation for Bitts Park in Carlisle, which was unveiled in December.

“I walk past it every day with my dog,” he says. “I can check to make sure the materials I used are still okay.”

Ben hopes to turn his workshop, behind Atlas Works in Denton Holme, Carlisle, into a ‘science museum of sound’ for people to come to, and while he currently transports his creations in a van he would like to cut this out and use a bike instead with trailers and incorporate his instruments into it.

He also builds from scratch and takes commissions and is currently working on a new sign for Outrageous bar in Carlisle city centre by making inflated steel letters.

Ben and his sound sculptures will be in Carlisle city centre on Friday June 8, from 10am to 3pm as part of Carlisle Music City. Visit www.soundsculptures.info for more details about his work.

First published at 11:24, Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk