Our walking tours of the city look at public artworks that are all
around us. This page moves us to the east side of Birmingham
where public art mixes with graffiti art and industrial
architecture in the most exciting way.
Saturday mornings
- a walk!
24 hour Walkway to Moor Street
(Anuhadra Patel, 2003)
Incorporating artistic elements in the city street scene can be so innovative.
This walkway becomes a pleasure if we care to stop and take some notice in our busy lives.
Anuhadra Patel (1961- ): Moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she continues to practice. See here…..
….looks east
Inside ‘Tempus Fugit’ Aston University
Ray Lonsdale, 2004
Located outside Aston
University library the
weathering of the Corten
steel like base and the
stainless steel layered head
is adding to the
attractiveness of this
unusual piece.
The name invites us to look
inside where we find the
small child, which alludes to
our childhood shaping our
adult lives. As Ray said: “No
man can fully escape the
nine-year old boy he once
was”.
RayLonsdale (1965- ): A north east sculptor who started as a steel fabricator, and turned to artistic pieces in 2002.
Ray’s website is here…
Peace Sculpture, Aston University
William Pye, 1985
This was originally placed at the site of the BSA factory which
was bombed in 1941. It was recited at the University in 1991
due to lack of maintenance and vandalism at the Acker’s
Adventure site in Small Heath.
The inverted V forms a structure for sixteen directed jets
forming a trellis within the triangle. The water flows at
different pressures and Pye suggested this was looking at
“different cultures striving to meet in a state of peace and
harmony”.
As the water pressure drops the flow diminishes to a point of
stillness “man’s mortality is evoked”.
The Peace Sculpture was an early Pye exploration into using
hydrostatic pressure to change the way the water flows.
Outlets placed at regular descending positions from a common head see different curves, depending on the pressure at that
height as demonstrated in the photo. The Peace Sculpture is the first of ten such hydrostostatic installations shown on
William’s website (see here…)
William Pye (1938-): See the artist’s website for a huge range of work here….
Tipping Triangles
Aston University
Angela Connor, 1994
A water feature with stainless steel ‘tippers’ which are fed
from the top and one by one offload their contents.
Connor suggested that the triangle alluded to the Aston
University logo and the aim of the work is to “provide beauty
and tranquillity”.
Angela Connor, (1935- ): Website here….
Crown Courts
Vincent Woropay, 1988
From hewn stone to the final bust, this shows the
Chantrey sculpture of James watt as it develops and
also in reduction. In his retirement Watt produced a
machine to make enlarged or reduced copies. This
piece is made from black Indian granite.
Watt came to Birmingham to work with Matthew
Boulton and lived close by in the Jewellery Quarter.
Vincent Woropay (1951-2002): Vincent simply died too
young. See more here…….
Old Square Mural
Kenneth Budd, 1967
The history of the site of
Old Square
chronologically told
from left to right with
key elements including events and people
associated with the Square.
Old Square was finally lost to redevelopment with
Joseph Chamberlain’s Corporation Street.
Robert Thomas, 1968
The Greek goddess Hebe was the daughter of Zeus and Hera and the
wife of Hercules. She had the power to restore youth and vigour. The
statue was originally installed in the middle of Holloway Circus and
marked the building of the inner ring road. The bronze girl originally
lay viewing her own reflection in an oval pool surrounded by a large
water feature.
Hebe has had several important events in her life. In 1981 she had to be
repaired after some vandalism. Worse was to come when in July 2000
Hebe was stolen one night. She was recovered from a garage in Selly
Oak in September 2001.
For her new position as the Aston University end of Corporation Street
she was surrounded with railings produced by Anu Patel. When
originally reinstalled the original water features was also placed in
position but unfortunately this has now been removed, and this rather
loses the sense of her positioning.
One of the city’s finest and most important 1960s pieces of public
artwork and what a survivor she has been. Hebe deserves at least the
occasional clear out of rubbish. The throw away cups, broken glass and
worse does not help to maintain eternal youth! It would also be nice if
the reflective bowl came back out of storage, and dare we ask for the
original water jet as well!
Robert Thomas ( 1926-1999) was a very highly regarded Welsh sculptor with many pieces of public art in Cardiff and South Wales.
He was one of the ‘Rhondda Group’. Find out more in this Guardian obituary…
Hebe
Corporation Street
All the books I should have read Aston Uni
Marko Mäetamm, 2019
A six foot high pile of books in Finnish granite
with a few more on the side. Perhaps a little
reminder for the science and engineering
students at Aston to read some literature as
well!
The full text reads: “All the books I should have
read, but I’ve been doing other things instead.
Marko says that: “They are the books I should
read now but I still find so many other things to
do.”
Marko Mäetamm (1965-): Marko’s work has
been exhibited all over the world. See website
here……
Aston Stones
John Maine, 1975-7
Originally 5 works which were purchased individually and placed in the
form of an old cross. The original five stones explored symmetry and
were placed along along two axes which originally intersected the site and
were known as the Old Cross and were in sight of each other. However
with campus redevelopments over the years this association has been
lost and indeed only one of the stones is easy to discover. John has
contributed annually to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition since 1995
See later work by the artist here: www.johnmaine.co.uk
Methodist Central Hall
Allegories of Methodist Teaching, Gibbs & Canning, 1900-3
The Methodist Central Hall was a centre for temperance in the early
twentieth Century with table tennis on offer to tempt you away from
the Saturday night hostelries all around. More recently the building
has been used for a variety of commercial organisations including as
a night club but the badly needed redevelopment of this listed
building still has not firm date or plans.
The current owner has now boarded up the main entrance behind
which are some art pieces depicting events in the life of John Wesley.
Planning permission to renovate the building was granted in 2018
but since then problems have been encountered.
It is good that teraccotta is able to withstand the forces of nature,
however it is an embarrassment to Birmingham that that these
major pieces are being allowed to deteriorate.
Queen Victoria
Law Courts
Aston Webb and Ingress Bell, 1886
Victorian ideals of law and order and considered one of the finest
civic buildings of late Victorian Birmingham. London architects .
First totally terracotta clad building – supplied by Edwards of
Ruabon. Includes Gothic, Renaissance and Flemish elements. A
number of leading artists of their day were involved in the detail.
Detail of the Old Square mural depicting the 1791 Priestley Riots.
Selfridges Façade, Temporary Art
Infinity Pattern1, Osman Yousefzada 2021
Temporary cover for the building in the city's Bullring shopping
centre.
The iconic Selfridges store is being refurbished ahead of the
Commonwealth Games, which comes to Birmingham in 2022. The
15,000 discs are being stored which is certianly wise as for the last
few years they have been gradually dropping off so the ‘doing
nothing’ was not an option.
Osman is originally from Balsall Heath and now lives in London.
Osman Yousefzada website: www.osmanstudio.com
New Book - November 2021
Invention & Design; Elkington of Birmingham
If you enjoy the mix of industry
and art that underpins so much
of Birmingham’s growth and
development you will love the
new book: Invention & Design;
Elkington of Birmingham.
The book has been written and
photographed by Jonathan
Berg, who runs Positively
Birmingham walking tours. It
will be officially published in November 2021 and copies will be available as soon
as the book is received from the printer, hopefully by mid-November
