Lle Sbwci yw Aberystwyth

Fwy o luniau o gerfluniau a chymeriadau Aberystwyth yn y fan yma …

Wales’ Heaviest Easter Egg

Parc Penallta near Caerphilly is the site for Wales’ heavist Easter Egg type installation…

“Breaking the Mould” by Andrew McKeown was installed in approximately 2000 as part of the Groundwork Organisation’s “Changing Places” programme whereby 21 projects on former industrial sites through out England and Wales were developed for the community for the 21st Century. Each one of these projects having their own sculpture.

The sculpture is set in the splendid Parc Penallta, formerly a mining tip linked to the nearby Penallta Colliery. There are other sculptures nearby including an entrance feature by Andrew Rowe. More on these later.

Enjoy the Easter Egg sculpture in the Gallery here.

Bring on the Sunday Beef

Talk about shock and jaw on John Clinch’s Beefcake Miner in Cardiff Bay…

This is a fantastic seven feet tall bronze situated in Cardiff Bay near the Norwegian church arts centre and not far from the Senedd building.

Entitled ‘From Pit to Port’ the sculpture celebrates the industrial heritage of the South Wales coalfields community and the close links with the Cardiff port which exported the black gold across the world.

It was unveiled in July 2005 and sculpted by the late John Clinch of Tregaron and completed by Jon Buck of Bath.

Despite the size and beefy musculature of this figure, there is an almost cartoon-like softness and exaggeration.

Enjoy the Full Set of Photos of this Sculpture on Flickr here.

Charles Sansbury’s Difficult Rocket Sculpture in Merthyr

This is a decidedly difficult sculpture. An imposing steel rocket-like structure on the edge of Merthyr town.

When the late Charles Sansbury created this massive installation way back in 1975, little did he realise how unloved his gangly child would become.

Logic and reason suggest that it is difficult not to notice this work at a height of approximately 20 feet. The fact is, most people do not notice it.

The sculpture was installed at the edge of Merthyr main car park, in front of Merthyr College, and at the entrance of the footbridge leading into St Tydfil’s shopping centre.

Although it was guaranteed a daily audience of thousands of passers-by, few noticed when it was recently moved to the Caedraw roundabout as part of a town landscaping project.

And the colour seems to have changed. It was previously painted in dark matt colours, now it’s been stripped of colour. To better effect, in our opinion.

The new location causes difficulty. It sits in the middle of Merthyr town’s busiest roundabout, near the T Mobile call centre and Welsh Assembly buildings. The onlooker and photographer is distracted.

The steel sculpture is difficult to like because we don’t think it reflects the reality of Merthyr’s industrial history. This sculpture doesn’t tell us any story about the struggles of working people who created Merthyr’s vast industrial wealth.

Enjoy Photos of the Charles Sansbury ‘rocket’ in the Gallery

From the Olga Korbut School of Welsh Mermaids

We discover the Olga Korbut of Welsh mermaids set in Portland stone in the Welsh seaside town of Porthcawl.

A voluptuous Mermaid figure dubbed ‘Mother Sea’ graces the Porthcawl seafront.

It is located opposite the Seabank Hotel and was installed in 1993.

The sculptor was Peter William Nicholas.

The mother/mermaid figure forms a tight ball or circle representing the cycle of life.

At the seating nearby the sculpture, Art lovers are free to marvel at the evolutionary symbolism of the mermaid figure depicting the emergence of life from sea to land.

The rest of us can enjoy a bag of greasy chips and gawp at a great pair of paps…

Pouting Trout from Porthcawl

Gadzooks! This hideous looking beast stares at shoppers in John Street, Porthcawl.

It forms the lower part of a tiered sculpture along with an ice cream cone, a navigational aid, sitting on a bronze bollard, with a seagull capping the ensemble. All these are ‘iconic’ imagery assocated with Porthcawl.

Designed and sculpted by Jon Buck and installed in the mid 1990s, it was one of the two public sculptures installed in Porthcawl’s main shopping district as part of a pedestrianisation/regeneration programme.

Click here to see the Full Set of Photos of Jon Buck’s Street Beacon sculpture

Stalking a Mermaid at St Dogmaels

If it was an offence to stalk wooden mermaid sculptures, we would have been locked up a long time ago.

We travelled eighty miles to the seaside village of St Dogmaels to catch a glimpse of her seaweed-coloured smile.

Like a junkie chasing a fix we just had to have one more wooden mermaid hit in late August to last us through the winter …

Click, click, clicketty, click.

The flowing hair, the contours, the graininess and greenness and those big green eyes looking out to sea.

Click here to see the Collection of Photos from the August 2008 pilgrimage and September 2007 tour of duty.

Wales’ Most Dramatic Landmark Sculpture

Easily Wales’ most DRAMatic sculpture is Andy Hazell’s Wheel of Drams near the Hengoed Viaduct, Maesycwmmer, a village near Caerphilly.

Andy Hazell was commissioned to create a landmark sculpture to celebrate the refurbishment of the Hengoed Viaduct and its inclusion into the National Cycle Network. Wheel of Drams is a dramatic eight metre high circular sculpture of six curved steel coal drams that commemorate the original haulage companies that operated on the goods line that passed over the viaduct. The circular shape also represents the move from the route being used by coal drams to bicycles.

Although this is an eye-catching landmark sculpture it is slowly being obscured by trees growing  in front of it.

See the Full Set of Photos here

More Details on Shelley Sculpture at Elan Valley

Following on from a previous visit to Elan Valley Visitor centre to document Christopher Kelly’s Shelley commemmorate sculpture, we have visited again. This time we were determined to capture more detail.

The Shelley sculpture has much detail. The poet/promethean central figure is surrounded by other figures, some of them as small as a child’s hand.

There are also books depicted as part of the central piece with brief written excerpts (presumably from Shelley’s work). At the circular base, a series of plaques depicts scenes (again presumably Shelleyan in origin).

See the full set of Photos on Flickr here.

Andrew Rowe seating installation at Brecon Theatre

On the heels of the photo of Andrew Rowe’s Kite Trail at Aberavon we have added photos of his 1997 seating sculpture in front of Theatr Brycheiniog.

Click here to see the Set

Largest Sculpture in Wales

The largest sculpture in Wales stands at 12 metres and weighs a colossal eleven tonnes.

Kite Trail by Carmarthenshire based artist Andrew Rowe was commissioned as part of a regeneration project and stands as a seafront market at Aberavon beach.

It was installed in December 2007 and stands opposite the Aquadome and next to Franco’s chip shop.

Work on the footings remains unfinished. There is also a much smaller ‘tail’ sculpture that accompanies the larger ‘kite’. When finished, the sculpture will be illuminated at night.

Enjoy the Full Set of Photos in the Gallery..

Wife on the Ocean Wave

Wife on the Ocean Wave by Graham Ibbeson at Cardiff Bay

There is a full set of photos of Ibbeson’s sculpture here on Flickr.

Graham Ibbeson’s official website contains a wealth of information on his work.

Sun Worshippers of Aberdare

An Icarean sculpture seems like a good idea!

Aberdare was bathed in some sun today and the forecast remains good for the rest of the week.

We have added photos of Tom Harvey’s Fall of Icarus to the Gallery.

Sculpted in Indian Cedar and measuring 9′ tall, the sculpture forms part of the Cwmaman Sculpture Trail and is located near St Joseph’s Church, Cwmaman.

It is a pleasure to be able to publish photos of local sculptures. The Cwmaman Sculpture Trail offers a very pleasant walk in a beautiful nook of the Valley reclaimed from former industrial land.

Character from St Dogmaels

This wooden character caught our eye… always a good start.

It is a wooden sculpture of St Dogmael in St Dogmaels about a mile west of Cardigan.

The sculpture is by John Clarke and dates from 2002, commissioned to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

It is located near the lower end of St Dogmaels’s Abbey.

Watch your step.  There is a duck pond adjacent to the sculpture!

St Dogmaels village has lots to offer the photographer/tourist. According to Dyfed Archaeological Trust it is “a very distinctive historic landscape character“.

Enjoy the Photos in the Gallery here.

National Whale & Dolphin Watch Week 2008

As it is National Whale & Dolphin Watch Week 2008 we thought now is a good time to publish a photo of a Leaping Dolphin sculpture!

Thus we have uploaded photos of the Leaping Dolphin wooden sculpture at Aberporth village, near Cardigan.

In the Gallery in the S + M section here.

For more information on whale and dolphin spotting, take a peek at the Sea Watch Foundation website.

Postscript : One of the most depressing sights of the summer is the sight of people putting their ugly oily machines in the sea so that they can race about on show creating a lot of noise. The pollution caused by these useless toys threatens the natural habitat of many species, not just the bottlenose dolphins.