Cardiff Bay: Adventurers Quay artworks

This is Adventurers Quay, a large residential development on the edge of Roath Basin in Cardiff Bay and, as you can see, around the ground floor of the building, at pedestrian eye level, there's an artwork.

The artwork, which was installed in 1999, has two components, one a mosaic of ceramic sails coloured blue and white, the other, perhaps less obvious, the grilles that cover the window openings to the car park inside the building.

The 'Terracotta Sails' mosaic is the work of ceramicist David Mackie (b. 1965), a prolific artist whose website lists completed artworks dating from 1994 to 2024, several of which can be seen in the Cardiff area. As well as the highly glazed sails, there's an undulating row of terracotta bricks fashioned to resemble a rope running along the lower part of the artwork. I quite like this piece, though I think the concept lacks imagination, sails being a very common theme among the artworks around Cardiff Bay.

Passers-by might be forgiven for not realising that the 11 steel grilles covering the car park openings are an artwork, so simple are they. These are the work of Andrew Rowe (b. 1963), whose DAR Design website describes him as a 'designer, sculptor and artist blacksmith', who works 'to commission, providing unique design solutions for public art, architectural metalwork, street furniture and sculpture'.

Cardiff Bay: Triple spout

I admit to never having noticed this fountain until I found it mentioned in the Cardiff Public Art Register; the register is available as a downloadable pdf, though be aware that it seems not to have been updated since 2008 and, in the interim period, some artworks have been vandalised, many have suffered damage and not been repaired, at least one has been relocated, and, despite Cardiff Council's history of neglect, more artworks have appeared around the city. 

The reason I hadn't previously noticed the 'Triple Spout' is that it's located in a hole in the ground in Cardiff Bay's Roald Dahl Plass. According to the Register entry, the location is 'a deep D shaped feeder pit that was historically used for balancing water levels in the adjacent Oval Basin'. 

The fountain is the work of British sculptor William Pye and was installed in 2000. Pye specialises in sculptures involving water; his website says he 'is inspired by the extraordinary qualities of water and fascinated by the natural laws of hydrostatics and how these can be manipulated'. Scrolling through the list of works on Pye's website I realised that I've seen at least one other previously, the font in Salisbury Cathedral, which I included in a blog written in January 2017, Salisbury Cathedral by day.

Cardiff Bay: Radio Flat Holm sculpture

In mid 2024 this four-metre-high sculpture of an old-fashioned style of radio appeared on Cardiff Bay Barrage. Financed by a National Lottery Fund Project that's supposed to be about rejuvenating Flat Holm Island, the hardwood artwork was designed and created by Glenn Davidson to celebrate the first radio transmission over open water by Guglielmo Marconi on 13 May 1897. Only that radio transmission was between Flat Holm and Lavernock, not Cardiff, and Marconi is not mentioned on the adjacent plaque because it turns out he was a fascist with close links to Benito Mussolini, and the sculpture has been sited so that viewers looking at it actually have their backs towards Flat Holm. So I fail to see how this sculpture is going to 'act as a symbol and encourage them [viewers] to explore the full range of the island's history', as envisioned by a Cardiff Council spokesperson. 

Almost two years on from its installation, the sculpture is already looking worn, its varnished surface badly affected by the elements, as is to be expected in such an exposed seaside environment. It will be interesting to see if Cardiff Council maintains and/or refurbishes the sculpture, something they have failed to do with almost every other public artwork around Cardiff Bay.

Cardiff Bay: Panorama Stone

When I first photographed the Panorama Stone, it wasn't where it is now. Thirty years after it was installed in 1993, this artwork was relocated to make way for a much larger sculpture depicting three black Cardiff men, who originally played amateur rugby union in Wales but made the move to play professional rugby league for English clubs. (That sculpture will feature in a forthcoming blog post.)
 

The Panorama Stone wasn't moved very far though; it is in Cardiff Bay's Landsea Square, just around the corner from its initial location. The stone was one of the many public artworks commissioned by the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation around the time the Barrage was being completed and the Bay was being redeveloped as a 'tourist destination', and was designed to show those locations around the world that had strong associations with the Bay, with Cardiff and with Wales. The sculptor was Leonard 'Jonah' Jones (1919 – 2004), known not only for his sculptural works in slate, stone and bronze but also for his calligraphy, painting, and work in art education.

Birds: 3 Assembly Square

 If you were to google "3 Assembly Square", you would learn that it's 'a prime waterfront office development extending to a total of 65,765 sq ft over ground and five upper floors, with undercroft car parking for 70 cars'. It's one of those glass-and-steel office constructions that can be seen in any large city anywhere in the western world but, in my biased eyes, it has one redeeming feature.

At the entrance to the building stands a large plinth that supports a tiny sculpture of two anonymous (are they gulls, perhaps?) rusty looking metallic birds. I've not been able to uncover anything about the birds but they are an inspired addition to an otherwise very ordinary edifice.

Cardiff Bay: Bowline Knot

Located off Havannah Street, at one of the entrances to Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve, partially obscured behind the circle of shrubs that surrounds it and officially called Bowline Knot (according to the Cardiff Public Art Register), but also known as the Rope Knot, this 'cast bronze and mild steel' sculpture was created by Andrew Rowe in 2000.

The sculpture models a length of rope tied to a ring that is set into the ground with a bowline knot, the type that was traditionally used to tie ships to the dock at which they had moored. The art register reports that 'this bronze sculpture reflects Cardiff Bay's heritage as one of the worlds [sic] principal coal-exporting ports.'

You can read about Andrew Rowe's career on the Fresh Air website, and learn more about his current work and see examples of his formidable artworks on the website of DAR Design, the company he founded in 1990.

Cardiff art: Three Ellipses

If you’ve ever walked over the Cardiff Bay Barrage, you might have noticed splotches of yellow paint, seemingly splattered randomly around the lock area, under your feet, on parts of railings and halves of benches, partially covering life buoys, swiped across fixtures and fittings. It’s really quite bizarre!

As well as being the colour of sunshine and warmth, yellow is also a colour of caution, warning of the need to be careful, to take safety precautions, so painting surfaces yellow can indicate trip hazards, concealed danger, potential obstacles. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

The colour yellow is also known for its high visibility, which is why it’s often used on road safety signage, on ambulances, police vehicles and fire engines. The colour can be seen, the painted shapes recognised from a distance. Now maybe we’re getting closer to an explanation of the Barrage blotches?

There’s only one way to solve this mystery, and that’s to stand in one specific spot on the Barrage near the locks and look seaward. Only then can you see, in its entirety, the amazing artwork that is Three Eclipses for Three Locks.

The brainchild of Swiss artist, Felice Varini, who specialises in optical illusional artworks, this piece was painted on the Barrage in March 2007, by a team that included professional mountain climbers to paint the less accessible spaces. I love it for the way it challenges the mind of the viewer to figure out and complete the fragmented puzzle but I do think it’s time the Cardiff Harbour Authority repainted it. It would be a great shame, and a huge waste of the initial cost of £25,000, if this piece was allowed to fade into obscurity.

Cardiff art : Cader Idris

I’ve sat and eaten my lunch on it, I’ve sheltered in its lee from driving wind and rain, but it was only recently that I finally found out more about this hulking artwork.

This is Cader Idris, a sculpture that was first sited in the large square outside Cardiff Central Station in 1999 but was moved ten years later to Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve. As the English section of the inscription on the plaque adjacent to the sculpture reads:

The mountains, lakes and valleys of Wales have inspired this sculpture, and in particular Cader Idris, in Snowdonia.

Naturally, many Welsh poets have found similar inspiration and it is those verses which reflect this subject that have been chosen here. All of them are by Welsh poets and in their original language, be it Welsh or English. The englyn is a unique verse form characterised by the particular setting of the lines. Four englynion are included in this selection, and the one by Rhys Dafis was especially composed for this sculpture.

At this point I was somewhat confused by the references to poetry inscriptions as I hadn’t noticed any – more on that below.

Cader Idris was created by William Pye, a London-born artist who studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art from 1961 to 1965, and has since taught and exhibited his work in museums and art galleries around the world. Although the design and dimensions of the Cardiff work were very much influenced by the Welsh mountains, Pye writes that many of his other creations have been inspired ‘by the extraordinary qualities of water and [he is] fascinated by the natural laws of hydrostatics and how these can be manipulated.’ Some of you may have seen the magnificent font he created for Salisbury Cathedral in 2008, or perhaps you’ve seen the shimmering Slipstream as you’ve passed through Gatwick Airport’s north terminal, or you may have encountered Chalice, within the precincts of 123 Buckingham Palace Road in London. Pye is a prolific creator and the list of his works is a long one.   

Returning to Cader Idris, Pye writes that his inspiration came partly from a painting of the mountain by Richard Wilson (1714-82), which Pye says ‘has been a particular favourite of mine since my schooldays and holidays in Wales. This painting has inspired me to create a number of sculptures, the Cader Idris Series.’      

Cader Idris is 13 feet (4 metres) tall and made from a combination of Woodkirk sandstone and Welsh blue pennant slate, which the sculptor explains as follows on his website: ‘Water is inferred at the centre of the structure where the darker pennant stone represents a cwm (circular lake) at the foot of an escarpment.’ Pye goes on: ‘The bronze element of the sculpture suggests a rock outcrop and is set with verses in Welsh and English, all by Welsh poets.’

Now I was even more confused, as it seems I had missed both poetry inscriptions and the ‘bronze element’, so I returned to the sculpture for another look. Still nothing. Then, after much searching, I discovered that the artwork was altered when it was moved. When it was located in central Cardiff, it had a small step built into one side and, more importantly, there was an additional rectangular piece adjacent to the stone ‘mountain’, a piece that was made of bronze and that had the poetry, the englyns, inscribed on one side. (There’s a photo of the original artwork on the VADS website here.)   

I haven’t been able to find any explanation for why the artwork was altered. Nor have I discovered what happened to the ‘bronze element’. To my eye, though Cader Idris still has a significant visual impact in its new setting, the piece has been diminished and much of its meaning obscured by the loss of the 'outcrop' and its poetry, and that seems a great shame.

Cardiff art : Celtic Ring

My last blog, Under my feet: a key, was an introduction to today’s post on the public artwork that surrounds that ‘key’, which is both a name plate for the artwork and a waymarker to locate the beginning of the Taff Trail. 

The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation (CBDC) was established in 1987 to regenerate the docklands, which had by that time become a wasteland of disused docks and abandoned buildings. As part of their regeneration plan, the CBDC commissioned a series of public artworks to complement the many new building programmes: the Celtic Ring is one of those commissioned pieces.

It was created by sculptor Harvey Hood in 1993. Though born in Staffordshire and educated both in Birmingham (at the Birmingham College of Art) and London (at the Royal College of Art), Hood has spent much of his adult life in Wales. After completing his MA in London, he moved to the Cardiff College of Art, where he eventually progressed to Head of the Sculpture Department. Though now retired from university teaching, and from his 30 years as director of the Berlanderi Sculpture Workshop near Raglan, Hood continues to create amazing works of sculpture. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and his work is held in public and private collections around the world.

On Harvey Hood’s personal website there is an excellent blog post that documents, using many fascinating images, the process involved in the creation of the Celtic Ring. It moves from Hood’s sketching his initial ideas on the shores of the Bay before the Barrage was built, to the intriguing process of manufacturing the artwork, from clay mould to plaster cast to fibreglass to bronze.  

As you can see from my photos of the Ring’s interior, its surface is textured with many features relating to the maritime and industrial environment in which it is located. As well as references to local landmarks like the Norwegian Church, the former Hamadryad Hospital ship, and several of the local docks, there are seafaring instruments and tidal charts. It is a remarkable artwork that has stood well the test of time since its creation almost thirty years ago.

Under my feet: a key

Well, it looks like a key to me, though it’s really a name marker for the Celtic Ring, the public artwork that surrounds it. The inscription on the key reads: ‘To mark the beginning of the Taff Trail to Brecon. Cardiff Bay Art Trust. Celtic Ring 1993 by Harvey Hood. Commissioned by CBDC’.

I’ll write about the artwork in my next post but today’s post is about what’s under my feet, that key. It can be found in Cardiff Bay, on the boardwalk near the water at the bottom of Roald Dahl Plass. As well as a name plate for the artwork, the key is a waymarker for the 55-mile Taff Trail, a walking and cycling route that runs from this spot all the way to the town of Brecon, in the Brecon Beacons National Park. Although the Trail is named after the River Taff, and does run alongside the river for some of its route, it also veers aside to follow former railway tracks and forestry roads in some places. To find out more detail about the Taff Trail, its route, its history and tales, check out the excellent My Taff Trail website. 

Although Covid-19 restrictions mean it is not currently possible to walk all the Taff Trail, you may be able to walk parts of the route that are local to where you live as part of your daily exercise regime. That also applies to cyclists, as the Trail is part of the National Cycle Network. In more densely populated areas, the Trail can be busy, so please be aware of and show consideration for other users.

Cardiff art : 'Wife on the Ocean Wave'

It seems a shame that this charming sculpture is not better positioned. Sitting between two of the three former Mount Stuart graving docks (once dry, now water filled) in Cardiff Bay, it’s half-way down a dead-end space, where there’s no other reason to venture except for a closer view of the sculpture. And so I seldom see – in fact, have never seen – anyone inspecting the terrific trio in their tiny tub.

Punningly titled, Wife on the Ocean Wave, this wonderful piece was created by sculptor Graham Ibbeson in 1993. In the artist statement on his website, Ibbeson explains the inspiration behind all his artworks:

I have always tried to use humour as a tool to draw people into my work, to enable them to look at themselves through laughter. My work has changed over many years of moving forward through the creative landscape, however, my motivation remains the same. I am influenced by the absurdities of this life and the people who inhabit my world. The small, tiny things that make up the whole picture, hoping as always, that humour opens a path to the truth.

Ibbeson succeeds brilliantly, in this and in the 30-something other sculptures that improve and enhance public spaces throughout Britain. (Click on this link to see a gallery of his public sculptures on the author’s website.)  

Back to the boat, and its three delightful figures, a woman, a man and a young lad. The elderly gentleman looks gleeful, his eyes glinting, a  boyish look of genuine fun-loving joy lighting up his face.

The woman looks more hesitant – there’s no open-mouth smile on her. Perhaps she’s a reluctant passenger in the tub. Perhaps she can’t swim.

And the lad – his face is the hardest to read, as he reaches one hand through the wave. Is he concentrating on something he sees? On grabbing what he has seen? And what is his hand reaching for? Why, a cute little fish, of course. The perfect finishing touch to this charming piece.

Constructed originally in fibre glass, then cast in bronze, Wife on the Ocean Wave stands 152cm tall. Access to it is unrestricted so, next time you visit Cardiff Bay, do make the effort to see it. Opposite Techniquest, on the finger of land between graving docks two and three, under the looming menace of a huge old cargo crane, follow the meandering path for a heartwarming laugh.