大象传媒

The Big V (artist's impression)

Two friends, who have lived in St Albans all of their lives, are proposing to create a large modern sculpture in Verulamium Park, in a bid to address the lack of public art in the city.

Morgan Howell and Andrew Carruthers hope that the V-shaped structure, dubbed the Big V, will be a focal point for both visitors and locals as well as being an unmissable artistic statement.

It will feature three 鈥渟cooped out鈥� sides illustrating the key historical ages in the city's development 鈥� the Roman age, the medieval town and the modern city.

Void

They hope that the sculpture, which is V-shaped to represent Verulamium Park, will help to fill the current public art void in the city.

鈥淭he original thought was that there was very little public art in St Albans鈥� said Andrew, 鈥渁nd we thought we鈥檇 try and do something about it.鈥�

Designer Morgan explained why he had incorporated the V shape.

鈥淰 is for Verulamium鈥� he said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 where the town began, but if you鈥檙e looking forwards to the future which we all must do, you have to look to the past [in order to do that]. And where did St Albans start? It started with Verulamium.

The Big V (artist's impression)

鈥淭his is not just a piece of bling in the park鈥� he added, 鈥渋t鈥檚 grounded, it鈥檚 there for a reason.鈥�

Andrew agreed.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want a piece of sculpture that had been made for anywhere else鈥� he said.

鈥淭here is a lot of public sculpture around and a lot of it isn鈥檛 actually anchored in the place it鈥檚 meant to be, it could be anywhere and that鈥檚 one of the things we didn鈥檛 want.

鈥淲e wanted something that could be representative of Verulamium Park.鈥�

鈥淧ublic art has to do a very different thing from normal art鈥� added Morgan, 鈥渋t has to engage the public and has to be an interesting thing for you to walk up and look at. It鈥檚 public art and it鈥檚 for the public to interact with.鈥�

Fundraising

But while the pair are keen to stress that this is public art, they also want to make it perfectly clear that they are not seeking public money for the project, which it is estimated will cost approximately 拢250,000.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 expect any money from the public purse鈥� said Andrew, 鈥渨e are fund raising from private individuals, trusts and businesses. And Morgan and I are not making any financial gain from this project, we are happy to do this because we love the City and the Park.

鈥淎ll the money will pay for the sculpture to be made, transport, installation, the archaeological excavation, the ground work, and a trust fund to pay for any ongoing maintenance and to support other arts projects.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e already had people pledge money which is very heart warming鈥� added Morgan.

鈥淏ut if people in St Albans don鈥檛 want it, if they don鈥檛 want any modern art in the town or this particular piece, then it won鈥檛 happen, it鈥檚 public art you know!鈥�