A bit of Controversy

Last week we went for a walk along a section of the Cauldon Canal that we hadn't been on before. As you know from previous posts we've walked quite a bit of both the Cauldon and the Trent and Mersey Canals in the last couple of years but this stretch was new to us. We parked close to the canal at Stockton Brook and joined the path going towards the city. The paths were quite good to walk on and as it was a lovely sunny day there were plenty of walkers out and about. At the beginning of the walk we found two rather interesting sculptures and paused to cross the canal and take a closer look at them.

As you can see they are made up of different images in different mediums all to represent the industries and well known connections of Stoke-on-Trent. There are bottle ovens, pieces of pottery, cups and saucers, bowls as well as Reginald Mitchell's Spitfire and the porthole presumably because Captain John Smith of the Titanic came from Stoke too.

Unfortunately the glaze from one of the embedded pots was frost shattered and the two people who looked at the sculpture before us placed the piece on top of the sculpture. I hope it will be found and mended before too long.

As we walked away from the sculpture across the bridge we were stopped by a couple out walking who wanted to know what we thought of the sculpture. We discussed its merits for a while and it appeared that the cost of the sculptures and the pathways had been around twenty thousand pounds. The couple approved of the new pathways but were quite scathing about the sculptures - for three reasons. Firstly because they didn't think they fitted in on the canalside, secondly they thought the embedded pots were 'naff' (their word) in that they were not indicative of the beautiful pottery and china made here but rather cheap and tawdry looking and thirdly they didn't like the fact that British Waterways had used a non local sculptor, but one who has done work for them on other canals in England and Wales.

The sculptor is Anthony Lysycia whom the couple had met and pronounced a very nice chap but felt that there were local sculptors who could have done just as well.

As we left them to carry on with our walk I was thinking about what they had said about the sculptures particularly with regard to the embedded pots. It would have been a shame to use anything other than ordinary, everyday pottery as it may eventually be vandalised (I sincerely hope not but we are living in strange times at the moment) and also for every beautiful piece of Wedgwood, Doulton or Minton made over the years there have been far more everyday wares made, maybe cheap and 'naff' to some but full of interest to others.

The second sculpture was bathed in dappled light and shadows so was harder to photograph but had a similar theme to the other one. So it would seem that some of the residents of Stockton Brook are reserving judgment on the sculptures and are concerned that the grants of money have been used in this way. I wonder?