| Earth Goddess | |
|---|---|
 Earth Goddess sculpture by Sandy Brown | |
| Artist | Sandy Brown |
| Year | June 2022 |
| Medium | Ceramic sculpture |
| Location | St Austell, Cornwall, England |
| 50°20′15.5″N4°47′39.1″W / 50.337639°N 4.794194°W | |
Earth Goddess is a ceramic sculpture in St Austell, Cornwall. It was created by ceramicist Sandy Brown. Earth Goddess was unveiled in June 2022 and is the tallest ceramic sculpture in the United Kingdom.
Earth Goddess was created by the English ceramicist Sandy Brown. [1] Earth Goddess is 11.5 meters in height with 6 meter wide arms and stands in a square in the town of St Austell in the English county of Cornwall. [1] [2] It depicts a female figure with outstretched arms decorated with bright 'blobs' of colour. [3] It is formed from five large circles of clay places on top of each other. Each circle is formed of three parts. The BBC News reporter Rebecca Jones described the construction of Earth Goddess as "Technically challenging ... a bit like giant ceramic beads on a metal pole". [3] The creation of Earth Goddess cost £90,000. [1] Upon completion it was the tallest ceramic sculpture in the United Kingdom. [1]
Earth Goddess forms part of the Austell Projects – Whitegold Art Trail of 18 newly commissioned public art works of ceramic sculptures that reflect the historic china clay industry of St Austell. [4] [1] The trail is intended to form part of the economic regeneration of St Austell. [3] The curator of the Austell Projects, Alex Murdin, said that the purpose of the project was to "encouraging people to think differently about their place and see it differently as well". [3]
Brown described her motivation for creating Earth Goddess as wanting the " ... sculpture to make an impact and I wanted her to be female and making an impact". The choice of a female form for the sculpture was due to Brown's perception that there was a lack of large scale female forms in public art and it " ...sort of took me right back actually to my mother – my mother was criticised by her parents for being a girl. They were farmers, they wanted sons. And so my mother was never able to celebrate being female, so I think it's about time that we did." [3]
The local Member of Parliament, Steve Double, said that 90% of the comments that he had seen and heard about the sculpture were negative. [1] He said that he would not be present at its official unveiling. [1] A St Austell town councillor, Richard Pears, said he liked it and thought that " ... the purpose of art is to provoke, it's to be worthy of talking about. A sculpture that nobody gave a damn about would be a complete waste of everybody's time. I would take a talking point over a boring piece of art any day". [1] A group of local church leaders condemned the sculpture in a letter to St Austell Town Council, describing the statue as “idolatrous” and calling for its renaming or removal. [5]
Brown said that she had not experienced such criticism before and compared the negative reception of the piece to the criticism received by Anthony Gormley's Angel of the North sculpture and works by Barbara Hepworth. Brown said that " ... they were all hugely criticised at the start. It took quite a while. I think that can happen and in time people grow to love it". Brown said of Earth Goddess that "I think she looks amazing, I'm really pleased with her". [1]
Cornwall is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised by Cornish and Celtic political groups as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, Devon to the east, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement is Falmouth, and the county town is the city of Truro.
The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located 2 km (1.2 mi) from the town of St Blazey and 5 km (3 mi) from the larger town of St Austell.
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture that represents persons or animals in full figure but that is small enough to lift and carry is a statuette or figurine, whilst one more than twice life-size is a colossal statue.
The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and is viewed by an estimated 33 million people every year due to its proximity to the A1 and A167 roads and the East Coast Main Line. The design of the Angel, like many of Gormley's works, is based on Gormley's own body. The COR-TEN weathering steel material gives the sculpture its distinctive rusty, oxidised colour. It stands 20 metres (66 ft) tall with a wingspan of 54 metres (177 ft), larger than that of a Boeing 757 aircraft. The vertical ribs on its body and wings act as an external skeleton which direct oncoming wind to the sculpture's foundations, allowing it to withstand wind speeds of over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).
Saint Austell is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, 10 miles (16 km) south of Bodmin and 30 miles (48 km) west of the border with Devon.
The Thinker is a bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin, situated atop a stone pedestal. The work depicts a nude male figure of heroic size sitting on a rock. He is seen leaning over, his right elbow placed on his left thigh, holding the weight of his chin on the back of his right hand. The pose is one of deep thought and contemplation, and the statue is often used as an image to represent philosophy.
Reginald John Clemo was a British poet and writer who was strongly associated both with his native Cornwall and his strong Christian belief. His work was considered to be visionary and inspired by the rugged Cornish landscape. He was the son of a clay-kiln worker and his mother, Eveline Clemo, was a dogmatic nonconformist.
St Blazey is a small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
Poltair School is a coeducational secondary school located on the site of the former St Austell Grammar School in St Austell, Cornwall, England.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit is a 114.5-metre (376-foot) sculpture and observation tower in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. It is Britain's largest piece of public art, and is intended to be a permanent lasting legacy of London's hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, assisting in the post-Olympics regeneration of the Stratford area. Sited between the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Centre, it allows visitors to view the whole Olympic Park from two observation platforms.
Viola Frey was an American artist working in sculpture, painting and drawing, and professor emerita at California College of the Arts. She lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area and was renowned for her larger-than-life, colorfully glazed clay sculptures of men and women, which expanded the traditional boundaries of ceramic sculpture.
Charles Sherman is an American artist best known for his continuum sculptures based on a three-dimensional form of the Möbius strip. Sherman’s work is included in museum and public collections, such as the San Diego Museum of Art, the Mobile Museum of Art, and the Golda Meir Center for Political Leadership at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Asia. His sculpture and jewelry designs have appeared in contemporary design and architectural publications. Serenity (2006), part of his monumental ceramic Infinity Ring body of work, is installed lakeside at the Fountain Park Sculpture Garden in Fountain Hills, Arizona, and also in the front of the John Entenza House in Santa Monica, California, a precursor to the Case Study Houses.
Bronwynne Cornish is a New Zealand ceramicist, sculptor and arts educator.
Stephen Daniel Double is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Austell and Newquay since 2015. He served as a junior Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 28 October 2022 to 13 November 2023.
Male/Female is a 15.5-meter (51 ft) tall hollow stainless steel sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky standing at the entrance to Penn Station in Baltimore, Maryland. It depicts intersecting colossal male and female forms with pulsing light-emitting diode light.
A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft is a public sculpture commemorating the 18th-century feminist writer and advocate Mary Wollstonecraft in Newington Green, London. A work of the British artist Maggi Hambling, it was unveiled on 10 November 2020.
Sandy Brown is a British ceramics artist who is nationally and internationally known for her works, which range from smaller ceramics to huge public sculptures. Brown is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association.
The year 2022 in art involves various significant events.
