Wintry walks where you get to see some art
Four public art trails, the great work of Arts Emergency, learn more about Albrecht Dürer, Luna Loves Library Day the Musical
I may be eating a pack of prawn cocktail Walkers while writing this newsletter (it’s Friday and 40 minutes to the school run so needs must) but I have been making an effort to exercise in the fresh air more this month.
And while I’ve been enjoying walking through the woods near my house, watching the squirrels failing to hide on the bare branches of the horse chestnut trees and spotting already budding blossom, I can’t help thinking I should venture a bit further and take in some public art along the way.
So here is a list of walks where you - and I - can both clock up our steps and appreciate some statues, sculptures and other works.
Manchester Statues and Public Art Walk
Created by Superlative Walks, a website of urban trails, this mostly flat route is over 5.3 miles of pavements and footpaths. They estimate it will take you 2.5 hours, excluding stops, to complete, and it features more than 30 statues and public works of art around Manchester city centre. Themes include cotton, free trade, liberalism and non-conformism.
The route is free to download here.
Sculpture Walking Tour of Liverpool University Campus
The University of Liverpool has an extensive art collection and much of it can be seen without stepping inside. This trail was created in 2022 and came with an app. I can’t find the app so assume it has been unpublished, but you can still follow the trail as the maps and information about each art work is on the institution’s website.
There are 14 sculptures on the route, including an open metalwork gate created by John McCarthy in 1961, which features mathematical symbols, and Hubert Dalwood’s sculpture Three Uprights, 1959.
Follow the route here.
Grizedale Forest
This may be an obvious choice, especially to Cumbria residents, but I’m including it here just in case there are readers who haven’t yet made the trip to this 4,000-hectare woodland.
There are around 50 art works to discover as you explore the forest, many by leading British artists. Rather unhelpfully, the page that should give details of the individual sculptures on the Grizedale Forest website is currently unavailable. But you can find out more about them - and their locations - on this ‘unofficial archive’.
Ribble Valley Sculpture Trail
This circular 1.5-mile route starts around a 15-minute walk from Clitheroe town centre and is estimated to take around an hour, which sounds about right if you plan to stop and check out the 22 art works placed along your way.
All with the theme of nature, they include Fish Mobile by Julie Ann Seaman, Halima Cassell’s ceramic work Fir Cone, made up of more than 100 intricately-carved bricks, and Tawny Owl Seat, sandstone carving of the bird in flight by Ribble Valley Stonemasonry.
Download a guide here.
New to Stored Honey
This week I launched the first episode of the brand new Stored Honey Podcast, in which a different North West-based arts professional reveals three things they’re excited about right now.
January’s guest, Jayne Lawless, is a Liverpool-based multimedia artist and sculptor whose socially-engaged practice has been taking her into communities across Merseyside for more than 20 years. She shared what it was like spending years working with the same community and finding ways of giving voice to their lockdown stories that would have otherwise gone unheard.
The Stored Honey Podcast is available exclusively to paid members, along with a monthly round-up of upcoming arts highlights and access to the Stored Honey archives, as a thank you for their support. I am keen to ensure plenty of content remains free to everyone, no matter your means, but paid subscriptions mean this newsletter can continue supporting the local arts scene well into the future.
If you would like to sign up as a paid member and discover why Jayne “had a cob on in the supermarket” then you can click the button below to take advantage of a week’s free trial.
We’re Also Buzzing About…
Arts Emergency: Since 2013, Arts Emergency has helped young people from underrepresented backgrounds break into the arts and humanities and currently supports more than 1,000 young people in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, London and Brighton. I am pleased to be taking part in its mentoring scheme again this year but even if you don’t have the time to commit to that, if you work in the arts, humanities or cultural industries you can help young people directly by sharing advice and resources. Find out more here.
Albrecht Dürer: Learn about Dürer’s material world in a series of talks at venues in Manchester to celebrate The Whitworth’s excellent landmark exhibition. More info here. A look inside the exhibition from the Stored Honey Archive: What a gold candlestick reveals about the ‘greatest German Renaissance artist'
Luna Loves Library Day the Musical: The much-loved picture book by Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and Fiona Lumbers has been adapted for the stage by Joseph Coelho and David Gibb and is touring to The Met in Bury on February 15. David Gibb is one of the main reasons my kids beg to return to Just So Festival each year and if they weren’t in school that day we’d definitely be going along. Book tickets here.
Thanks for reading. As always, I’m available on X/Twitter, in the comments or at tostoredhoney@gmail.com if you’d like a chat about culture in the North West.
Have a great week,
Laura
