Behind the Headlines

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 “scooped out” sides illustrating the key historical ages in the city's development – 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.

“The original thought was that there was very little public art in St Albans” said Andrew, “and we thought we’d try and do something about it.”

Designer Morgan explained why he had incorporated the V shape.

“V is for Verulamium” he said, “it’s where the town began, but if you’re 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)

“This is not just a piece of bling in the park” he added, “it’s grounded, it’s there for a reason.”

Andrew agreed.

“We didn’t want a piece of sculpture that had been made for anywhere else” he said.

“There is a lot of public sculpture around and a lot of it isn’t actually anchored in the place it’s meant to be, it could be anywhere and that’s one of the things we didn’t want.

“We wanted something that could be representative of Verulamium Park.”

“Public art has to do a very different thing from normal art” added Morgan, “it has to engage the public and has to be an interesting thing for you to walk up and look at. It’s public art and it’s for the public to interact with.”

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 £250,000.

“We don’t expect any money from the public purse” said Andrew, “we 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.

“All 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.”

“We’ve already had people pledge money which is very heart warming” added Morgan.

“But if people in St Albans don’t want it, if they don’t want any modern art in the town or this particular piece, then it won’t happen, it’s public art you know!”