THIS summer the gallery at New Brewery Arts in Cirencester will be transformed with an evocative, engaging and inspirational installation commemorating the start of the First World War.
Over the past months New Brewery Arts has been working with acclaimed wire sculptor, Celia Smith, to develop and curate this exhibition. The Feathered Aviator is a uniquely creative response to the concept of communicating the heritage of 1914 to visitors one hundred years on, using the homing pigeon, telecommunications and barbed wire as motifs.
During the First World War, man-made communications systems were crude and unreliable – it was the pigeon on which they depended. Celia Smith’s deceptively delicate wire sculpture perfectly encapsulates the bird’s dual qualities of fragility and strength, from proud individuals, perfectly balanced and assured, to flocks of birds in joyous flight.
Soaring from the exhibition will be flocks of wire birds created in Cirencester’s schools and by families at the Duke of Gloucester Army Barracks who have enthusiastically embraced the craft of wire sculpture with Celia Smith whilst learning about the heritage of the war with the New Brewery Arts and Corinium Museum outreach education teams. Each bird carries a special message from its creator which can be seen on Twitter throughout the exhibition.
The Feathered Aviator installation is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the wider Cirencester Commemorates project which has received a grant of £34,700. The project will provide a series of events and activities to help the local community to understand and actively engage with the heritage of the First World War.
Part of Cirencester Commemorates funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, The Bingham Library Trust and supported by Corinium DFAS this free exhibition will be opened at 2pm on Saturday, July 5, and is then open 9am–5pm Monday to Saturday, 10am–4pm Sunday until September 7.