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Exciting new public sculpture coming to Amesbury Wiltshire UK

topps35 - Saturday, January 30, 2010 - 5:44am
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Exciting new public sculpture coming to Amesbury Wiltshire UK

Andy and Michelle would like to raise awareness and general interest in their new, and first large scale public sculpture. Please pass the link on to anyone who you think may be interested.
Solstice was born from many journeys driving down the 303 thinking that it needs something. Drawing on inspiration from the surrounding area and a fasination with our ancestors, especially early metalwork, the concept was born. An opportunity presented itself when the Amesbury Visual Artists organised the first art trail in Amesbury. Andy and Michelle have carefully designed Solstice to be perfect for the site and area. He is an artist funded project, brought to conception following a meeting with the Holiday Inn and an idea for an art trail sculpture, since then the project has grown and focused.
We would like to thank the Holiday Inn Salisbury for their support in allowing us to use their site for our sculpture project. Solstice is for sale, with first refusal going to the Holiday Inn.
SOLSTICE

a sculpture by A&R Metalcrafts

The concept of sun worship is nearly as old as mankind itself. In ancient times, people were more intimately connected with the cycles of nature. Primarily an agricultural people the worship of the Sun is understandable in light of our dependence on its warmth for food and life itself. Sun-day has been a religious day of worship for about 2000 years B.C.

Influenced by the rich heritage and history surrounding our area Solstice captures the very moment of the sunrise. Ancient man on his knees, head thrown back, arms raised welcoming the sunrise from the east. Marked with ancient symbols he represents a time of ancient lore and mystery, a spiritual moment.

A magnificent metal man approximately 20ft tall on his knees, Solstice has been created from randomly plasma cut steel plate 3to5mm thick welded around a heavy duty box frame. He will have a rusted finish and stainless steel weld markings.

Situated at the Holiday Inn by the main route from the east he also offers a welcome to visitors, marking the beginning of the west country and encouraging people to consider where we come from.

We are hoping to install Solstice on the 21st March to celebrate the Spring Equinox.

Our dependence on the sun is as real today as it was to our ancestors.
We hope you like him and will help us by passing on the link
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=280999921460#/pages/large-scale-public-sculpture-coming-soon-to-Amesbury/315477829992
Many thanks
Michelle and Andy


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Frank Castiglione's picture

Fantastic

Frank Castiglione - Saturday, January 30, 2010 - 6:48am

Hi Michelle and Andy,
I love the sculpture and the scale of the thing,It will add beauty to the trail indeed. Well done folks.
Frank


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eligius1427's picture

Wow, what a big and

eligius1427 - Sunday, January 31, 2010 - 12:22pm

Wow, what a big and fantastic sculpture. I love the size, the texture, and the mix of stainless steel welds with rusting mild steel. In your experience, do the stainless welds stay a different color or do they start rusting due to the mix with the mild steel?

Also, how do you all go about deciding on the structure that supports your sculpture? I have been using an engineer to help design the supporting structure, but the end result always seems so overkill. I'm very happy that the sculptures are so structurally sound, but it adds a lot of time and weight to the project. This has been some thing that has been on my mind a lot lately.

Great Job, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished piece in it's setting.

Jake

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE


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topps35's picture

big man

topps35 - Monday, February 1, 2010 - 3:13am

Thank you for your comments, the size still shocks us when we put the two halves together. Re-reading our post, we havent mentioned that he is going to be situated about 3 miles east of stonehenge.
We use dissimilar arc welding rods which when the amps are lower than recommended gives a much less contaminated weld, not advised for structural welding but good for art effect. Andy says that to achieve good texture leave the welding to the amtures (Michelle) he has trouble welding badly!
When we put the proposal together for the Hotel we made a lifesize model. He was constructed by eye with no frame, will post picture. Initially we though we would make the big one the same way. The legs came first and we rapidly realised the weight of the material. So a 120x120mm box frame was constructed internally, much better to do this first! We make a lot of light industrial so had a good idea about framework and support but are lucky enough to have an engineer landlord who goes above and beyond. We always thing over kill is better the bits falling off as recently happened in UK to a large scale piece which started to drop huge spikes from about 20 ft. The next one will be so much easier!!
Thankyou again for your comments
Andy and Michelle


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topps35's picture

one step forward two back

topps35 - Friday, February 5, 2010 - 2:49am

When we first put the two halves together we realised that both the ankles and the waist needed thickening up. Ankles went smoothly but Michelle happily cut away the waist sections not realising that the top layer was lined up perfectly to fit the top half! Andy was not amused, have to wait 3 days to repair as putting him together takes teamwork and we cant get the team together before that.
We shall communicate better in future!!
Michelle and Andy


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