Sculpture unveiled in Wakefield

This week saw a sculpture that I have been working on for some time, unveiled in Wakefield in Yorkshire. Titled “Everglow”, the 5m tall concrete and glass artwork was commissioned largely by the developers who have a created a major new housing development in the city.

The sculpture is inspired by the canal that transformed the fortunes and the future of the city in the 19th Century. The sculpture celebrates the city’s waterways and the role they still play in the city.

The blue coloured, patterned glass and giant concrete monoliths represent the mass and form of lock gates. Lock gates for the country’s canal network are manufactured a stone’s throw from the site of the sculpture in one of only 2 factories in the country crafting the unique giant doorways. The artwork also captures the vanishing point illusion of the canal disappearing into the distance. Also featuring in the granite paving of the sculpture is a beautifully penned poem by award winning Yorkshire poet, Laura Potts.

The project began with some community workshops to help inspire a theme for the work A walk around the area near the site threw up a photograph of the stretch of the canal that transformed the fortunes of the entire city. The new stretch of canal allowed the import and export of tonnes and tonnes of coal and textiles that enabled local businesses to prosper. This photograph was the initial inspiration for the sculpture. The poem by Laura Potts, details the transformation of the city through time from the industrial 19th century to the modern day where the canal is now used mainly for recreation.

The artwork is situated just off the Aberford Road in Wakefield and is illuminated in all hours of darkness.