And finally… float on
Plans have been submitted to install a full-sized canal boat, sculpted into a loop-the-loop from rolled steel – what else would you use here, really? – on the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal near Tinsley Marina.
In what feels like one of those projects we never realised we needed, but now really want to see, the public artwork references the history of Tinsley and its 200-year old waterway using signwriting and will be painted in traditional, canalboat colours.
If approved, the contemporary artwork will serve as a free, year-round, outdoor visitor attraction for the area, and aims to bring a new generation of visitors to contribute to the ongoing story of the canal.
The project is being co-funded by British Land and by energy company E.ON as part of the latter’s commitments around the nearby Blackburn Meadows biomass-fuelled energy park
A board of local stakeholders, led by Sheffield City Council, was convened to commission the piece by artist Alex Chinneck.
Other parties involved are Tinsley Forum, Canal & Rivers Trust and Yorkshire Water.
Cllr Martin Smith, chair of the economic development and skills committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “The Board have been working to deliver a public artwork for Tinsley and for Sheffield, that celebrates the history of the area and the promotes the discovery and enjoyment of the water way. The new proposals, submitted by the project board, are bold, ambitious and do just that.”
