You’d Think We Have Enough Waves

February Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Statues”

Are we trying to tempt Fate?

In the run-up to Christmas the promenade of my coastal town gained another artwork.

With the mosaic Herring Gull and the colourful Puffin, that now makes three in a ten minute walk — all part of enticing visitors to linger and, of course, take selfies to distribute through social media. There’s nothing like encouraging the public to undertake otherwise costly publicity on the town’s behalf.

There are to be five wire sculptures along the 90 mile Yorkshire coast, and the town was chosen because of its 20th century history.

In 1949 two friends started making statuettes as souvenirs for summer day-trippers arriving by train. The business grew into a true ceramics enterprise and, despite its demise, its products remain collectable.

In the 1950s Hornsea Pottery, as it was by then known, made a series of fish & wave posy vases for its whimsical “Fauna” collection. One, a 3D wall plaque, became the inspiration for artist Emma Stothard for the promenade sculpture, hence the reason the fish looks “cute”, reflecting the tone of the original ceramic.

The sculpture is constructed from intricately woven galvanised wire, with the wave standing 2.5 metres/8 feet tall. Residents are hoping it has been sited far enough from the seawall so it escapes rocks hurled by equally tall, but slightly more energetic, waves from the turbulent North Sea.

Thanks to Mary Chang Story Writer for the publication. Be assured, these writers do not hurl rocks, merely deliver colourful stories to elicit a smile: Vidya Sury, Dennett, Penny Grubb, Ellie Jacobson, Madeleine McDonald, Jason Edmunds, pockett dessert, Julia A. Keirns, Stuart Aken, Sandi Parsons, Paul Gardner, B.R. Shenoy, Kim McKinney and Susan Alison.