Glastonbury Festival Sculpture Heads to The British Ironwork Centre.
A giant sculpture entitled “A Head On With The Future”, that headlined at this year’s Glastonbury Music Festival, has been relocated to the British Ironwork Centre as part of a national tour.
The sculpture has been created from scrap metal from the automotive, oil and gas and agriculture industries, including a petrol tanker, a 1957 Bentley car and a Q4 military truck.
Filled with living plants, the sculpture weighs over 3 tonnes and reaches a height of 19 feet and was inspired by nature and its ability to recover even in the face of so much worldwide adversity.
The artist behind the sculpture is Mark Vanaria, who was originally born in Australia but now lives in the UK. He wanted to pay homage to the Aboriginal people and peoples of the world that have suffered under colonial powers and that have been pushed from their birth right lands.
Mark was specifically drawn to the British Ironwork Centre to exhibit his artwork as the centre has become nationally known for its work with sculptures, particularly those created from waste or redundant materials.
This enormous sculpture is planned to be on display at the Ironworks for 12 months before moving on to another sculpture park, hopefully in the north of England.
Clive Knowles, chairman of the British Ironwork Centre, says “our Shropshire Sculpture Park is attracting more and more national sculptors who want to use the parkland to exhibit their artwork.
We don’t charge artists and there is no commission required for us to exhibit their works. There are also no costs charged for unloading and for siting the artworks.
What we didn’t really fully appreciate in the beginning was how few sculpture parks or exhibit facilities there are available throughout the UK for artists to showcase their work, especially for large sculptures, and the options available to artists are very limited.
We wanted to offer our centre as a platform for artists to be able to showcase their work and to reach a wider audience for their art and their message.”
“A Head On With The Future” can now be viewed here at the British Ironwork Centre. If you are an artist wanting to showcase your artwork or sculpture, please contact us at [email protected].
The sculpture highlights Indigenous Land Rights campaigns, and supports both The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, and The Wangan and Jagalingou First Nations. 20% of any sale or hire fee of the sculpture will be donated to these two campaigns.
