Public Art

‘Once you’ve got the techniques of hollowing, raising and dishing steel, you can make any form you like.’

Brian Fell

Public artworks by Brian Fell

Brian Fell’s large-scale landmark public art works can be found in Manchester, Cardiff, Plymouth and Hull. An image of his Skyhooks sculpture in Trafford Park, Manchester was used as the cover of Manchester’s OS map for many years. In Cardiff, work with the Cardiff Bay Arts Trust in the 1990’s includes the poignant Merchant Seaman’s Memorial next to the National Assembly for Wales and All Hands, depicting two massive hands clutching a rope standing above the culverted canal that runs to the city’s docks. Another project in the city is the trail Fell created around Mermaid Quay based on the poem Cargoes written by John Masefield (1878-1967).

His work features in a range of schemes in coastal towns and cities. The Leviathan on The Barbican in Plymouth (known locally as the “Prawn on the Barbie), themed markers on the Promenade in Southport and a range of sea birds on the traffic islands and the pier in Morecambe. A programme of work with Jersey Heritage Trust, resulted in pieces for the Maritime Museum and Mont Orgueil Castle. Other work with museums and galleries includes a major commission creating flood defences for the Wilberforce House Museum in Hull depicting items from the museum collections.

In Flint, North Wales, Footplate is situated outside the train station in the form of a gigantic foot with chains and cogwheels emerging from above the ankle, marking the Sustrans cycleway. In 2012, Fell also completed a long-term project with Sheffield Cathedral to create a Nativity from steel, recognising the city’s long-term association with the steel industry.

Skyhooks

Leviathan, Plymouth

HaHa Bridge, YSP

Skyhook Statues in Trafford Park by Brian Fell

The Leviathan Sculpture in Plymouth by Brian Fell

Photograph of a metal bridge crossing a Ha-Ha by Brian Fell

See more Public Art here.

Portraits of Brian and George Fell in their workshop in Yorkshire

Public artworks by Brian and George Fell

Since 2011, Brian and George Fell have worked together on major commissions, George developed his metalworking skills by working with his father. You can see more of George’s own work on his website.

In the Liverpool area his work features in the Leisure and Culture Park in Huyton, Knowsley, in a series of installations inspired by the fantastical imagery in the nonsense rhymes of the poet Edward Lear, working with his son George. Further work on the same theme can be seen in Kirkby where they created a life size steel elephant standing in a Viking boat also inspired by Lear’s writings. The Kingfisher sited at the entrance to the Kingfisher industrial park in Bootle has become a well-loved landmark and in the early 2020s, Brian and George each created a series of works on a Shakespearean theme for Prescot town centre and the new Shakespeare North Playhouse (need link here).

George and Brian have been commissioned by two housing developers, Shanlys and Stonewater in Maidenhead and Leeds, creating animals and flowers linked to the history of the sites.

The two artists worked together in Bedale North Yorkshire to make a herd of deer as a landmark for the entrance to the town.

Fell’s witty HaHa Bridge, a pedestrian bridge across a haha for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a popular permanent work in the grounds and his Desert Rat and two decorative pieces are also on display at the Park alongside a piece by George Fell. Visit www.georgefell.com