A fun run, a cross bay walk and medieval Japanese repairs bring Venus back to Morecambe

The iconic Venus & Cupid sculpture will be returned to its home at Scalestones Point at Hest Bank on Saturday June 8.
Venus and Cupid statue in MorecambeVenus and Cupid statue in Morecambe
Venus and Cupid statue in Morecambe

The Venus & Cupid Arts Trust, which took over the maintenance of the sculpture in 2015, has announced that after seven months in its temporary home in the Arndale centre in Morecambe, most of the funds needed for the repair have been raised and the work is now finished.

On Saturday morning Venus & Cupid will be wheeled out of the Arndale into New Town Square, lifted onto a trailer and taken to Scalestones Point where Craig Jury’s crane will be waiting with artist Shane Johnstone to lift her carefully back onto the place where she has been since 2005.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Venus will gleam in the sunlight more than ever thanks to the Japanese repair technique that Shane has used.

After researching mosaic and ceramic repair methods he found a technique called Kintsugi which was developed in the middle ages in Japan for repairs to beautiful ceramicware.

This Japanese aesthetic values the damage or the marks of wear.

Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated with the use of gold leaf where the damage has occurred. For the repair of Venus, Shane has replaced the missing tiny mosaic tiles with identically sized squares of gold leaf.

The effect is stunning.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Siân Johnson, chair of The Venus and Cupid Arts Trust said: “The costs of the whole project including transport has been over £4,000. It was not the repair work but the fundraising which took the time.

“We are very grateful to the Lancaster Community Fund which gave us a grant towards materials costs, but the rest has been fundraising activities.”

The final target has not yet been reached but a Save Our Sculpture fun run is being organised by Lancaster Races for Sunday June 9, setting off from the Morecambe golf course car park, and a prize draw is being run until June 29.

Sian said: “We didn’t want to wait until then to put the sculpture back because it’s so popular with Morecambe’s visitors and the tourist season has already started.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

For details of the Save our Sculpture fun run call Lancaster Races tel: 01524 60537 or visit https://www.lancaster-race-series.co.uk/fun-runs/morecambe-5km-save-our-sculpture/.

For more information about the Venus & Cupid prize draw tel: 01524 831600.

Related topics: