New sculpture in castle grounds

The work, commissioned by Scottish Civic Trust (SCT), is a ‘legacy artwork’ for its  ‘Stone, Sea, Sky’ project, held as part of its annual ‘Doors Open Days’ event with the aim of encouraging island communities ‘to celebrate the contribution of buildings to their environment’.

As part of the project, workshops were held with primary school children in Stornoway and Balivanich, with the resulting artworks used to inspire the final sculpture, and which were displayed in An Lanntair in October.

The new artwork connects ‘three key Stornoway buildings’ – the Nicolson Tower, the Ferry Terminal and An Lanntair – to the Castle Grounds with the ‘iconic forms’ of the three buildings ‘playfully re-interpreted into a pattern which houses the view finders’.

The faces of the sculpture have also been designed ‘to showcase selected questions and drawings by the children of Stornoway Primary School’. 

Edinburgh based design collective, Civic Soup, completed the workshops and the final design work for the sculpture.

SCT’s Director, Dr Susan O’ Connor said: “The sculpture is meant to be not just looked at, but through – we have designed it to frame various views of the town and the castle once installed. 

“We hope the sculpture will inspire children and adults alike in valuing the beautiful and unique architecture of Stornoway and make their visit to Lews Castle grounds that bit more intriguing.”

The new sculpture will be located on a fork in the pathway close to the Woodlands Centre and the ‘fairy tree’, adjacent to the sea wall in Lews Castle grounds.

Installation work is expected to commence in spring 2020.

The project was LEADER funded, with the sculpture commission valued at £6000.