Description
Vibrant penguin design, Kingsley, was created whilst the artist was playing with forms, shapes and structures to see how she could enhance the curves of the penguin whilst disrupting the static nature of the sculpture. She aimed to develop a sense of movement around the form but wanted the forms to be angular rather than curvaceous. It almost looks like his swirly patterns have frozen in the cold weather! Kingsley’s unusual colours will definitely stand out on the trail.
Audio read by: Phillip Stoneman from BBC Hereford and Worcester
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Artist
Amy Bourbon
Amy Bourbon is a Fine Artist specialising in painting and drawing, specifically large-scale oil painting. She has been awarded a PhD from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.
Amy has completed several projects for Wild in Art trails across the UK, the Isle of Man and Jersey. She has created a total of 20 sculptures to date and her auctioned sculptures have raised £113,000 for charity.
Galleries of her artworks can be found on her website, amybourbon.com. Recent photographs of her sculptures can be found on Instagram – @amybourbonart.
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Location
18. City Museum & Art Gallery
Over the course of its 124-year history, the Victoria Institute (now known as the City Museum and Art Gallery) in Foregate Street has served the city extremely well. It has been variously a home for the City Museum and Art Gallery, council offices and the public library, as well as housing the Worcestershire Regiment’s own dedicated museum.
According to local historian James Dinn, prior to its construction, the site was partly occupied by the 17th-Century Inglethorpe’s Almshouses. Dinn states that an inscription in stone from these almshouses may still be seen on Taylor’s Lane.
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18. City Museum & Art Gallery
The buildings roots are tangled with the earliest museum in Worcester which was ran by the Worcestershire Natural History Society. The first museum stood in Angel Place in 1833 but was moved to a site now occupied by the Odeon Cinema in 1836.
The modern museum, ran by Museums Worcestershire is a direct descendant of this original incarnation and a significant portion of its collections are comprised of artifacts collected during the time of the Worcestershire Natural History Society.
The Victoria Institute was designed with the purpose of rehousing the museum, as well as acting as a public library and art gallery. It opened its doors in 1896 (the year before Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee).
The unique architecture of the building is designed to echo many different periods of history and also incorporates the arms of Queen Victoria, for whom the building was named.
The building cost £42,000 to build in 1894 (equivalent to several millions in today’s money), not to mention considerable expenses laid on from the city treasury for a lavish reception of the Duke of York (later known as George V) who laid the foundation stone in that year.
Prior to this, Worcester’s library was housed in various other places including the Guild Hall and later the earlier buildings of the Worcestershire Natural History Society. The library remained here until The Hive opened in 2012, but it’s well worth a visit today to appreciate the art and museum exhibits, as well as the fantastic architecture and interior decor.
This location fact has been provided by Joe Tierney of Faithful History. To learn more stories of the ancient city of Worcester, spanning thousands of years of history in ‘The Faithful City’, visit https://www.facebook.com/faithfulhistoryworcester
Take home your own feathered friend
In October 2024 all 40 large penguins and one chick will be auctioned to raise funds for the care provided by St Richard’s Hospice.
In 2021, 31 stunning elephant sculptures raised a mammoth £368,800 to support the care provided by St Richard’s Hospice across Worcestershire.
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