Plans for Weymouth's climate change sculpture trail revealed
The abstract art work will be dotted around town
PUBLIC artworks for Weymouth’s sculpture trail have been revealed – all reflecting the town’s associations with the sea.
Planners are being asked to give planning consent for two of the six – both on the Esplanade.
One features creatures found in the Bay, the other, more abstract, is designed to highlight climate change.
They will be part of six installations which will encourage people to explore lesser-known parts of the town.
Each has been commissioned by Dorset Council working with the creative producers B Side and date back to a consultation exercise it carried out in 2018.
The completed trail will be just under a mile long and is designed to be accessible to wheelchair users.
More than 120 applications were submitted to take part in the project from which six were selected including three from Dorset – Ben Russell, Denman & Gould and Alex Evans of Stoneform – with visiting artists Nigel Ross (Dundee), Steve Geliot (Brighton) and Raphael Daden (Nottingham).
Dorset planners are now being asked to approve two of the sites for a striking and colourful sculpture by Raphael Daden on the Esplanade opposite King Street and using an existing raised planter for a group of three sculptures by Ben Russel just a short distance away, based on sea creatures.
Raphael Daden’s work ‘tipping point’ is designed to raise awareness of climate change and rising sea levels, making use of an existing stone plinth near the clocktower. Ben Russell’s stone-carved corals will nestle in a raised flower bed on the seafront close to the Royal Hotel.
Raphael Daden works mainly with light combining different materials – working with resins, acrylic and glass. He has worked on many public art commissions and has shown his work in galleries around the UK and abroad.
His Weymouth is said to suggest that we are soon to reach a point that will impact on us all. The artwork reflects this tipping point, with layers of clear resin set within a circular steel rim gradually moving from clear to turquoise and becoming deeper blues as it reaches the top. A poetic message will be set within the resin layers using laser cut text. Made of marine grade stainless steel and resin it will be about a metre in diameter weighing about 100kg.
Ben Russel is based in West Dorset and has created three carved forms of marine species based on researching the coral reefs off the coast of Weymouth – The Weymouth Carpet Coral (Hoplangia durotrix) – dating back to its discovery in 1860, which is very rare nationally but thrives locally in small, dark crevices. The others are Adreus Fascicularis – a tough, wiry sponge consisting of a group of pointed cylindrical branches, nationally quite scarce and the Crater Sponge (Hemimycale columella) – a sponge that grows as a thin sheet or cushion in patches 10-15cm across and thrives in our waters.
The other pieces planned for the trail are – an oak bench by Nigel Ross on the footpath towards the Stone Pier; Perching Stones by Denman and Gould near the White Hart; Stoneform crabs at Brewers Quay which can be used as seats and a piece titled Augmented Reality under the Swannery Bridge.