Tag: sculpture

November 10th – I have an odd relationship with Morris, the Brownhills Miner. I like the sculpture,  he’s well-loved, and I really appreciate the work that’s gone into making him. But when it comes down to it, it’s a 10 metre stainless steel miner, lit by blue LED lights. Pretty, but also pretty ineffective. Morris didn’t bring regeneration, or prosperity. He doesn’t symbolise a rebirth or recovery. He just stands, back to the town, holding a lamp out to see if anything better is coming, all the while reminding us of what was lost.

That’s the thing about civic pride, statuary and economics. It’s best done when you’ve fixed the other stuff. It’s not a cure all.

November 1st – I’m experimenting with long exposure settings on the camera. I did a little last year, but largely left the shutter and aperture to the camera. I’m beginning to get a feel for how there settings work now. 

I’m not a huge fan of the Walsall Wood Pithead sculpture as many will be aware. I resent the poor engineering and tokenism of it, and the shallowness such artworks always engender. But it does make an interesting subject at night. It’s interesting when it catches the floodlight from the football pitch nearby, it almost appears to be lit from below.

August 23rd – Rust never sleeps. A couple of years after installation, Walsall Wood’s iron cutout people look dreadful, in my opinion. Had they been coated, or made from stainless steel, they would have worked a whole lot better, but the rusted, corroding versions just look like visually confusing scrap these days. The text milled into every figure is very hard to read now, as there’s no contrast due to the oxide.

A wasted opportunity. Walsall Council paid thousands of pounds in development funds for this. Surely a more enduring use of the cash could have been found.

June 26th – Catshill junction has a complex history. A three-arm junction with roving bridge where the Daw End Canal meets the Wyrley and Essington, it was a major toll point for the canal system. The ‘narrows’ here (there are a pair, a third isn’t needed) were where toll masters in the long gone Tonnage House would record the weights of the boats and their cargoes, and charge accordingly. Now, there are nice footpaths, limpid, soft waters and greenery. It’s a lovely, peaceful spot. As teenagers, we challenged each other to jump the narrows here – not seen anyone do that for a while. 

Overlooking it all is a sculpture, placed here when the towpaths were upgraded in 2007.  Sadly, it’s completely inaccessible to all but the most fearless bushmen, and the fine detail in it is lost from afar. Another bit of ill-judged, pointless public art.

February 27th – Out early to Telford again today – hopefully for the last time in a while. Standing on platform 4c (sort of like New Street’s version of Harry Potter’s platform 9 and three quarters, only less feasible) I looked across the dismal concrete and steel architecture and noticed the steel horse. Life size, jet black and approaching 25 years old, this is part of one of the better public artworks I’ve ever seen. I think there are twelve metallic equine silhouettes in total, at various locations between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, all in animated poses as if racing the train. They are regarded with surprising affection by travellers, and after two and a half decades, they still make me smile.

December 13th – Darlaston, like most places, seems to possess its fair share of public artwork. The sculptures in Victoria park have no plaques, but their root is fair clear; they’re harking back to an industrial past. I’m not sure if the hammer is a genuine old machine or a composite, but I can’t really see how it worked, whilst the tree seems to be suffering the same rust affliction that befalls the Walsall Wood Pithead. Looking like a child’s approximation of a tree, I find this sculpture odd; it’s hugely detailed in the leaves, which contain items of Darlaston’s past; nuts and bolts, washing machines (Servis were just down the road) and so forth, yet the ensemble gives the impression of something simplistic and cursory. I’m not sure the best tribute to a true seat of precision engineering should look like this, but folk seem to like it.

August 10th – My dislike of the Walsall Wood pithead sculpture is well known and somewhat controversial. I actually think that it’s not only aesthetically dreadful, but badly engineered and ill thought out. In the construction, there’s a random mix of stainless steel fasteners and normal ones, which stands out; looking at the frame there are multiple sets of holes that appear to have been redrilled, but this may be intentional. The sign commemorating the pit seems to face the wrong way, and cannot be read from the road, whilst the construction is topped by a pennant bearing the initials NCB, for the National Coal Board. The NCB never actually operated the pit, but oversaw it’s closure, which shows a particular ignorance of history.

July 4th – Anyone reading my work would think that I am completely against public artworks. This isn’t the case, there are plenty which I like, but this sculpture at Catshill Junction is not amongst them. A clearly very detailed piece, it has been placed on  a canal bank on the far side of the junction where it cannot be seen clearly enough to discern the detail. Further, it’s overgrown and looks unloved. How much did we spend on this, and what was the point?

June 25th – I’m quite fond of public art, but some just baffles me. I have nothing against this steel cube – standing as it does near Ryecroft Cemetery on National Cycle Route 5 through the Goscote Valley – it’s just a bit dull. Possibly one of the few artworks improved by graffiti. The most startling thing about it, considering it’s location, is that it hasn’t been nicked for scrap. They’re an enterprising bunch round here when it comes to such things…

April 23rd – Waiting for the rain that never came. On the canal in Walsall Wood, the Walsall Wood Fisherman – Rod to his acquaintances – is still without the company of Bob the fish, mysteriously ‘lost’ some months ago. 

The sculpture, like it’s fellow follies, now looks rusted, scruffy and forlorn. It’s utterly symbolic of the supposed regeneration and council attitude to the village. Throw some sculpture at it and hope it goes away.

Thankfully, the spirit and soul of the Walsall Wood people is stronger and worth more than that…