Featured Work
'The Heart of the Forest', Ashby de la Zouch
As you come around the corner onto North Street, you catch a glimpse of a row of tightly packed steel columns with curved tops rising up into the air. It seems somehow in keeping with the backdrop of several large trees and you think it’s growing or moving, changing shape as you approach it.
March 2019
North Street,
Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire
LE65 1HU
Height: 8.35 metres
Width: 3.1 metres
Length: 5.9 metres
Galvanized Structural Steel Tubing
Adrian and a team of helpers installed ‘The Heart of the Forest’ in high winds on 13 March 2019 to great excitement from local people. The paving was reinstated the following day and the safety fences removed, allowing access to the artwork for the first time. Only now could the interactive nature of the sculpture be experienced, because this is an artwork that cannot be fully appreciated unless you visit to see it and seek out every vantage point.
Crossing over to the wide pavement, all of a sudden the columns line up and the curves reach outwards to form the image of a tall, majestic tree. The looks of surprise and delight are a picture to behold. The main illusion is different from each direction, so when you come back down from the leisure centre or park, it looks like an even taller, slender tree has appeared.
In keeping with Adrian's intention for the work to be appreciated on a number of levels, the sculpture grabs your attention from a distance and draws you in to discover the tree illusion, then rewards you with fine surface detail, images of numerous leaves and an intriguing ‘patchwork quilt’ effect when all the columns are seen together from an angle. He painstakingly patterned the surfaces of the columns with a special technique developed by experimenting with a mild phosphoric acid mordant wash solution that instantly ages the galvanized coating, applied by spray, sponge stamps & string.
Installation
The Grounds Maintenance Team from NWLDC Parks Department were employed by Adrian after competitive tendering by three companies. They carefully excavated the site and Adrian helped to install a complicated steel reinforcing structure designed by WML Consulting Structural Engineers. A special system of 32 high-tensile bolts and bespoke box cones with plate anchors were then accurately fitted into position before 3. 5 cubic metres of C35 concrete was poured into the foundations. This hidden structure is what makes the sculpture stand up, as well as withstand gale force winds. This was tested to the full when the columns were craned into position by P&P Mather Transport Ltd, the baseplates securely bolted down & encased with a special grout, ably assisted by Paul Moakes.
Development
North West Leicestershire District Council commissioned Adrian Moakes in May 2018 after a local & national advertising, competitive application & interview process. The brief was to create a site-specific landmark sculpture as the centrepiece of Ashby de la Zouch's growing Leisure & Culture Quarter, into which NWLDC have invested nearly £3m for a new car park, refurbishment of the leisure centre, outdoor lido & historic gates, as well as 1.7% to create the sculpture. The funding has been raised over several years from planning fees, new homes bonus & recycling income.
The sculpture consists of eight welded & galvanized structural tubular steel columns, each pair having been mechanically curved to different radii to make the tree illusion work. Together with detailed smaller branches, the shapes reach out in all directions to express a welcoming, uplifting and positive image of Ashby.
Entitled ‘The Heart of the Forest’, the work proudly celebrates Ashby’s location and importance in the National Forest, an incredible project that has seen 200 square miles of new woodland planted across three counties. Visit https://www.nationalforest.org/
The Artist held four days of public consultation events in busy locations all around Ashby in July & August 2018 and also presented the project to a group of sheltered housing residents neighbouring the site. The pop-up exhibition stalls were widely advertised in all forms of media, including postcards all around town, local newspapers, a regional radio interview, several websites and social media pages. The events attracted great interest from visitors and residents alike and over 400 people expressed enthusiastic support for the proposals, with an approval rating of over 99%. The detailed designs and specifications were then submitted for a full planning application and scrutinized by Ashby Town Council and NWLDC Planning Department.
In October & November 2018 Adrian held workshops in three local schools: Ivanhoe College, Ashby Willesley Primary and Ashby Hill Top Primary. He took the children out into their school grounds to study the trees & shrubs, firstly drawing with a range of traditional materials, then back in the classroom to create ‘drawings in space’ with wire and basic tools. Over 160 children participated and produced an amazing range of artworks that Adrian will be transforming into a permanent metal ‘floorscape’ entitled
'The Forest Floor'
to be installed in front of the Hood Park Gates in June. This community artwork will complement the larger sculpture and incorporate an information plaque about the project as a whole. (Watch this space for further information)
After ten months of intensive work, the sculpture was ready to unveil to the public. In keeping with his intention to engage with local people & keep them informed of developments, Adrian held an informal ‘Meet The Artist’ day at Ashby Library, next to the newly installed sculpture, on Saturday 16 March 2018. A series of three large display panels and a short documentary film (see below) were unveiled for the first time, telling the story of how the work was developed.
The sculpture was officially opened at a civic launch on Tuesday 19 March by Councillor John Clarke, Chairman of NWLDC.
Special thanks to Wendy May, Cultural Service Team Manager, NWLDC, for her expert co-ordination & management of the project.
Comments from the public:
“It’s really quite funny, when I am taking photos of the tree there is normally at least one other person taking a photo – which makes me smile.”
“Stunning. I spoke to someone the other day who works close to it and she says she's seen lots of people walk up and touch it, great to hear so many children were involved with it.”
“My son & his friend were in my car when they first saw it. They had helped to create the sculpture at school & they were OVER THE MOON when they saw it was part of Ashby now! I’ve never seen two 11-year-old, fortnite obsessed kids so happy about something other than an Xbox win. So yes, it is a lot of money but their faces were a picture & they can grow up telling their kids they helped to design it. I think that is priceless.”
How the sculpture was made
A short documentary film by
Pudding Bag Productions