A new 30 feet high sculpture has been installed at Edinburgh Park.

Reach for the Stars is the final work by British sculptor, Kenneth Armitage, and it was put in place with a crane over the weekend. Parabola, which owns the area (where there will be music events during Edinburgh International Festival), has an arts strategy for it, and this is the latest addition.

Yorkshire-born Kenneth Armitage (1916 – 2002) is recognised as a pioneer of modern sculpture and is known for his large semi-abstract works characterised by movement. He was awarded with a CBE in 1969 and elected Senior RA in 1994. In 1952 he followed fellow Yorkshire artist Henry Moore by earning an international reputation at the Venice Biennale, exhibiting in 1952 alongside other young sculptors representing Britain. In 1958 he won the Biennale prize for a sculptor under 45. Reach for the Stars (2001) portrays a hand shaped like a star supported on an arm that is both human and architectural.

Parabola chairman Peter Millican said: “We are very excited to see ‘Reach for the Stars’ installed in its new home at Edinburgh Park where it can be seen by visitors arriving by tram, road and rail. It’s a truly magnificent piece, and I hope others find it as inspirational as I do.”

The £500 million development includes Mach1, a new arts centre designed by the Scottish sculptor and installation artist, David Mach RA. There will also be offices and homes included in the scheme.

Parabola’s arts strategy for Edinburgh Park (which you can read in full below) includes major sculptural works by Eduardo Paolozzi, Brian Kneale, Geoffrey Clarke, William Tucker and Bruce Beasley. David Mach RA has been commissioned to develop his first sculptural building – Mach 1, and Dovecot Studios is on schedule to complete a major tapestry based on Leon Kossoff’s painting Study from ‘Minerva Protects Pax from Mars’ by Rubens (1981) which will hang in 1 New Park Square that will be completed later this year.

Loader Loading…
EAD Logo Taking too long?

Reload Reload document
| Open Open in new tab

Download [162.00 B]

Website | + posts

Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.