Irwell Sculpture Trail

The Irwell Sculpture Trail is the largest public art scheme in England, commissioning regional, national and international artists. The Trail includes 28 art pieces and follows a well established 30-mile (48 km) footpath stretching from Salford Quays through Bury into Rossendale and up to the Pennines above Bacup.
Viewed from above this earthwork is loosely in the shape of a bud and leaf unfurling into a double spiral mound taking the viewer up to a curved brick seating area.
A series of leaf images and patterns are set into the brick path to help people discover the park. The sculpture is an attempt to move between the formal Victorian design of the park seen in the remnants of the formal bedding and local buildings, and the geometric patterns of natural forms discovered on closer inspection i.e. the double helix of the centre of a daisy. The design incorporates many requests arising out of a consultation process e.g. seating, colour and improvement of derelict areas.
Arena (completed 2002) is a public sculpture designed by New York artist Rita McBride. It is made of white Ferro cement and stands over 15 feet (4.6 m) high overlooking Littleton Road playing fields and the River Irwell. It is Salford's first major commission for the Irwell Sculpture Trail.
Arresting Time: Jill Randall has been a resident artist at Magnesium Elektron Limited just off Lumns Lane for over a year during which time she was influenced by the industrial process she has experienced. Suspended from the riverbank, the alloy sculpture reflects the mechanisms of the factory behind.
The Lookout was built by Tim Norris and Craig Ormerod in 2003, into the bank of the lake (Clifton Marina) at Clifton Country Park, to allow people access to the water and a quiet place to contemplate and rest. 53°32′08″N 2°20′49″W﻿ / ﻿53.53567°N 2.346921°W﻿ / 53.53567; -2.346921﻿ (Lookout)
The Dig was inspired by the local industrial history 'Dig' refers to the starvation boats used to ferry materials from the Wet Earth Colliery at Clifton to Salford Quays, Salford. The boats were called 'starvationers' because of their narrowness, needed to navigate the canals.
Remains of these boats can still be seen in the dried-up Fletcher's Canal in the park. Industrial archaeology, burial ships, underground rivers, crop marks and Iron Age hill forts inform the artist's work. Dig is also used as a seating, eating and performance area. 53°31′58″N 2°20′20″W﻿ / ﻿53.532727°N 2.339024°W﻿ / 53.532727; -2.339024﻿ (Dig)
The work called Trinity focuses on the period the railway line was constructed, the deaths of many of the 'navvies' involved in the digging of the Outwood cutting and the pre-railway history of the site. The flowers' names hint at the loss of these unknown workers and are a memorial to them and reflect the woodlands that surround the site. Harebell = Grief, Snowdrop = Consolation, Rosemary = Remembrance.
The symbolic language of flowers was in common use during the Victorian period when the cutting was created. The column is also an ancient and symbolic representation of a tree which allows the work to 'merge' into its wooded surroundings. The artist aimed to engage with the wider cyclical events of the site transformations through nature -> industry -> nature over the last century.53°32′25″N 2°20′25″W﻿ / ﻿53.54025°N 2.34038°W﻿ / 53.54025; -2.34038﻿ (Trinity)
Another sculpture is Our Seats Are Almost Touching. The bench has been produced in a dark grey concrete composite with a smooth, flame finish. The full bench forms a circle but has been split into eight segments of lengths varying from 60 cm to 300 cm and placed as both single and group seating. Each segment enhances a vista or provides a tranquil place for contemplation. This work is part of a series of seating proposals that began in 1994. The Bury benches were the first to be realised with the second series in the Talanue, Waiblingen Germany. This project has established a cultural partnership between the two districts.
On the site of the former Outwood Colliery, Ulrich Rückriem has created one of his largest stone settings to date. It is composed of ten large stone pieces set over a number of locations; one column marks each of the two main entrances, a group of seven tall slabs are installed of a flat plateau, and the largest slab, 25 feet (7.6 m) in height, marks the former railway track. These stones are split horizontally and/or vertically into several parts then reassembled into their original forms. 53°33′03″N 2°20′23″W﻿ / ﻿53.550778°N 2.339731°W﻿ / 53.550778; -2.339731﻿ (Rail Track)
The starting point for this commission was to incorporate the themes of children's rights and the name of the housing development into the design. Research revealed the mill owner used to keep Shire horses which led to the name Shire Gardens. The final sculpture will mark the entrance to the new housing development. It is the first major public work by Jack Wright, a sculptor who lives in Radcliffe.
The work takes the form of enlarged frost nails, used to attach the Shire horses' hooves in icy conditions. The stem of the nail suggests growth with the head reminiscent of a house roof, this draws a direct parallel to Irwell Valley Housing Association who have developed social housing on this site.
Inscribed on each stem is a line from the poem 'Children Learn What They Live' to remind us how children's lives can be influenced by our actions. This project is a joint commission between the Irwell Sculpture Trail and Irwell Valley Housing Association. 53°33′52″N 2°20′01″W﻿ / ﻿53.564544°N 2.333628°W﻿ / 53.564544; -2.333628﻿ (Nailing Home)
In the Bulrushes is another sculpture. It is made of galvanised mild steel and the sculpture is inspired by the nearby Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal having bulrush motifs, a canal barge hidden in the bottom of the bulrushes and illumination to transform the sculpture at night.
As If I Were A River has been produced around the key motif of this exhibition - the river. The ethos of this public art commission is to use art as a tool to enable the public to interpret their landscape and have the confidence to explore their environment.
Fryer's sculpture is a wry comment on this hidden history and the site's current use as a country park. By using the words 'picnic area' the artists is encouraging the visitor to question whether the art work is a public amenity or tourist trap.
Seek And You Will Find: a series of carved wooden sculptures relating to the indigenous flora found around the park. All the works are 'secretive' located amongst the flora, its form is taken from Ramson herb from which the town's name originates.