Coventry public art commission, 2008

The public artwork for Coventry City College Multi-story car park aims to harmonise the regeneration to the natural environment with a climbing vine and flowers cascades over the north and west elevations of the building.  The striking stained-glass window in Coventry Cathedral, by John Piper inspired the use of colourful transparent acrylic within the nine flowers. 

Visual Impression

Facing the car park in Harnall Lane East, you will be confronted by an enormous yellow flowery vine that covers 2/3 of the car park.  It seems to rise from the ground as it climbs up along the face until it reaches the north stairwell where it appears to loop around and then descend down towards the entrance in Bath Street, before looping back up again. 

Fabrication 

The vine, leaf and frames to hold the flower petals will be hand crafted and forged in steel using traditional blacksmith techniques, before they are then galvanized and painted.  Under the artist’s supervision Framsham Forge will fabricate all the metalwork; 83m of vine, 30 leafs varying in size from 1 to 3m and the 9 flower frames. 

The flower petals will be made from 3mm coloured transparent acrylic sheet, attached to the black painted steel frames.  They are nearly 3m in size, scaled from original drawing by participants of the workshops.  The acrylic will be in four striking colours a vivid, red, yellow, blue and fluorescent pink. 

The choice of materials are very robust, designed for the lifetime of the artwork and need little maintenance.  They also complement the car park’s concrete, galvanised and stainless steel construction.  

Community Engagement

The local community explored the ideas for the proposed artwork, creating drawings and two tone floral prints from clay tiles.  These prints where then developed into the nine flowers by the artist.