The spectacular 20 metre-high sculpture, “Dream”, by internationally renowned artist Jaume Plensa, is situated on the site of the former Sutton Manor Colliery.ST. HELENS, UK - The final piece of "Dream"
A landmark new sculpture, was lowered into place on the site
of a former coal mine in St.Helens, next to a busy motorway
where it will be seen by millions of motorists each year.
The spectacular 20 metre-high 'Dream' sculpture,
by internationally renowned artist Jaume Plensa,
is situated on the site of the former Sutton Manor -
Colliery in St.Helens, midway between Liverpool and
Manchester. A celebratory, forward-looking symbol of both
St.Helens' rich mining heritage and its more recent
post-industrial transformation, 'Dream' will be highly visible
to the 100,000 people who drive past the site
on the M62 every day.
20 meter-high sculpture,by Jaume Plensa, is situated on the site of the former Sutton Manor Colliery.'Dream' was commissioned by local ex-miners
and St.Helens Council as part of Channel 4’s
Big Art Project, an ambitious public art commissioning
initiative supported by Arts Council England,
the national development agency for the arts,
and The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity.
Jaume Plensa Dream Sculpture model
The Big Art Project seeks to inspire and create new works
of public art, commissioned by communities, as well as
of public art, commissioned by communities, as well as
debating the importance of art in the built environment.
The journey leading up to today’s unveiling of Dream,
along with seven other Big Art Project sites across the UK,
has been filmed for Big Art, a major four-part Channel 4 series,
which starts on Sunday 10 May at 7.00pm.
Dream is the artist’s response to the brief and to subsequent
conversations with the ex-miners group and members of the
wider local community, who, far from wanting a mining
monument, sought instead a forward-looking piece that
would provide a beautiful, inspiring, contemplative space for
generations to come.
The work is intended to become a gateway feature
for both Merseyside and Greater Manchester at the
heart of the Northwest and to symbolize the remarkable
regeneration of the whole region.
Weighing more than 370 tonnes, and individually
fabricated in 90 unique panels of pre-cast concrete,
Dream takes the form of a girl’s head with her eyes
closed, seemingly in a dream-like state, and has
taken seven months to construct.
