Teesdale artist Steve Messam has just launched his latest installation – and it’s illuminating

STEVE MESSAM is an artist based in the Durham Dales. For the past 20 years he has been creating very large scale temporary artworks in mostly rural landscapes. These range from giant bubbles floating above a boating lake in Lytham St Annes in Lancashire and a 16th century cottage clad in the fleece of 300 local rare breed sheep in mid-Wales, to a bright red pavilion high up in the trees in a forest in Sweden. Closer to home he has wrapped fell side barns in slow-motion waterfalls in Teesdale and built a functioning footbridge entirely out of paper in the Lake District. His latest installation is Flotilla, on the Regents Canal, London. Comprising around 180 large origami boats floating on the canal at the historic Paddington Basin in central London, the piece explores the scale and heritage of this once industrial trading hub. Each pure white boat is fitted with individual microprocessor controlled light units, transforming the installation into a imperceptibly slow changing sea of colour by night

"I really don’t recall how I ended up making a living this way. I kind of fell into it somehow," he says. "I left school at 16 with just O-levels and after dropping out of art school, I worked in a professional photographic lab in London printing black and white photos for the city’s top photographers. In the early 1990s I moved to Glasgow and worked as a freelance photographer for The Observer magazine and doing live gig photos for most of the music press and independent record labels." Steve moved to the Eden Valley in Cumbria in 1999 which is where his passion for upland rural landscapes was nurtured. In 2014, he made the ten-mile journey across the North Pennines and moved into Upper Teesdale where he how lives and has his studio.

Favourite eating place

I rarely eat out, so more often than not it’s Greggs. That said, the cafe at MIMA in Middlesbrough is both quirky and great wholesome food. An excellent place for lunch.

Favourite shop

JG Windows in Darlington is a frequent browsing haunt. I will have that piano one day…

Favourite day out

Saltburn-by-the-Sea is a great day out with the kids – cliff railway, crazy golf, great fish and chips and finishing off with an obligatory paddle in the sea. The town is full of architectural gems, small shops and just less touristy than Whitby down the coast.

Favourite North-East landmark

There’s just no beating the Angel of the North. I never tire of seeing it from so many places - although I have a real soft spot for the Newcastle Swing Bridge too.

Your inspiration

I’m most inspired by the upland landscapes of the North Pennines - the river Tees, Swaledale sheep, the call of distant curlews and lapwings. Wherever I go in the world, I’m always glad to get home. There’s nothing to beat the lush green dales and rugged limestone fells.

Your proudest achievement

I always consider myself lucky to have had so many amazing experiences, met so many incredible people and made work in some of the most beautiful places, but my proudest achievement has to be my two boys, aged nine and 14.

Where you like to escape to on holiday

I love my rural life, but I still need an urban fix every once in a while so a few days in Paris with my Leica camera or a week in Shanghai usually does the trick

The best thing about living in the North-East

It’s a whole lot drier than the North West!

  • Flotilla is in Paddington Basin until April 14