A giant topiary like sculpture has been unveiled in Nottingham today in a bid to encourage shoppers to keep the streets clean.
The sculpture which features prominently at the Old Market square is of a Grandmother and her Grandson posed in the action of sweeping. It was commissioned by Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID) to celebrate Nottingham’s title as the Cleanest City in Britain.
The two sculptures called simply the ‘The Sweepers’ are over 3 metres tall and are made of metal and timber and dressed with wire mesh and artificial topiary matting. At night time they will be lit up and will stay there over summer.
Created by Nottingham company, “Shipshape Arts”, the sculptures are based on their larger creations which stood in the Southbank Centre in central London before being moved to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Talking about the inspiration for the original designs, Beatrix Eden from Shipshape Arts said, “They were designed to represent people in our community, and feature a proverb which says, ‘If every man would sweep his own doorstep and look after his local green space, the city would be even cleaner and greener'”
“it took a group of us around 4 weeks to make these sculptures but along time, many months to create the original design.”
“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback, people really like them, people really like the sentiment that they represent, the older lady and smaller boy, passing moral values between the generations”
Director of the Nottingham BID, Neil Fletcher said, “The Floral Trail that we organise in conjunction with the Council has been a popular feature of the city’s summer landscape for the last four years, helping to make the city centre more attractive, and this will appear on the city’s streets again this year with the addition of two new wicker sculptures. However, we wanted to do something different this year too and I am sure that the sweepers will prove to be a great attraction for local people and visitors.”
Councillor Nicola Heaton, Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Community Services, said: “We are delighted to be able to support the installation of ‘The Sweepers’ in the city centre. These magnificent sculptures will captures everyone’s imagination and encourage citizens and visitors to think about how they can support us to maintain our status as the Cleanest City in Britain.”
Executive Assistant for Leisure, Culture and Tourism, Councillor Cat Arnold, said: “These sculptures are an instant statement of clean, green Nottingham – a great place to live and work in and visit. I hope they will encourage more people to visit the city centre this summer and make the most of all that Nottingham has to offer.”
