Green Capital / What's On
Millennium Square welcomes the Bristol Whales
Two life-size whales were unveiled in Millennium Square today ahead of this weekend’s Harbour Festival celebrations.
The sculptures are made from locally-sourced wicker and 70,000 recycled plastic bottles left over from the Bath half marathon and Bristol 10k.
Present at the launch was artist and the creative force behind the project Sue Lipscombe who hopes the art installation will raise awareness around climate change and the damage being done to the ocean.
is needed now More than ever
“I don’t think I’ll ever get a chance to see a real whale,” she told Bristol 24/7. “I hope the scale of this will make people realise the kind of things that are out there in the sea that we need to protect and preserve for the future.”
Lipscombe heads up Bristol-based design company Cod Steaks who built the structure over 14 weeks with the help of school children from across the city.
Shedding some light on the design process, the Chew Valley resident explained: “We made two small models and a model of this whole Millennium Square so we could see the scale and how it would be able to fit in.”
“Then the steel work was all built and we started getting the willow in and we wove all the skin of the whales,” she added. “We’re all really pleased, I had an excellent team of sculptors who worked on this with me.”
The Bristol Whales, which have been funded by Arts Council England, have already attracted a number of admirers.
Jo Jones, 67, of Weston-Super-Mare, said: “We like the message. Hopefully people will see this and think twice about buying bottled water.”
The Bristol Whales will be installed for six weeks from now until September 1, with Bristol 2015 hoping to re-house the sculpture later this year.
Britain produces three million tonnes of plastic waste each year, of which 20 per cent is recycled. An estimated eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceans every year with the equivalent weight of 45,000 blue whales.
For more information visit www.bristol2015.co.uk.
