Sky Arts reveals the UK’s favourite public art ahead of brand new series, Landmark

Aug 23, 2021 | Business

A 1.2 tonne metal sculpture of a soldier reflecting on the horrors of World War One has been crowned the UK’s best piece of outdoor artwork.

Ray Lonsdale’s 2014 statue, called ‘1101’ to mark the first minute of peace after armistice at 11am on November 11, 1918, is also known as ’Tommy’.

It was initially only meant to be a temporary display but following its unveiling, it became so popular that locals started a fundraising campaign to have it permanently installed.

In 2015, after raising the £102,000 necessary, it was moved to a paved platform in the town, and a time capsule containing donated items, including a letter from Ray Lonsdale, a T-shirt, children’s artworks, war remembrances, and a Victory Medal was buried beneath it.

The moving sculpture, in Seaham, County Durham, took top spot following a nationwide poll by Sky Arts to celebrate the launch of its new series, Landmark, which will see a new wave of public art in the UK as the country’s best artists compete for the chance to create a brand-new national landmark.

Sky Arts initially asked 1,000 UK adults to share their favourite pieces of free-to-view outdoor artwork, before the list was whittled down to a top 20 by curator, Clare Lilley, one of Landmark’s expert judges, before 2,000 adults then voted for their favourites.

Lonsdale’s work topped the list ahead of Andy Scott’s ‘Kelpies’, a giant horse installation in Falkirk, Scotland and the ‘Uffington White Horse’, the chalk hill figure in Oxfordshire.

Making up the top five was ‘The Angel of the North’, by Antony Gormley, and Martin Jennings’ ’Women of Steel’ in Sheffield.

Clare Lilley, Director of Programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and an expert judge on Sky Arts’ Landmark, said:

Other popular pieces of outdoor artwork across the UK include ’Another Place’, the haunting series of sculptures by Antony Gormley on Crosby Beach in Merseyside found itself sixth on the list.

‘Hands and Molecule’, in Ramsgate, Kent, which is a nod to the discovery, development and manufacture of innovative medicines in the county, was in seventh spot.

Making up the top 10 are ‘The Millennium Sculpture’ (The Tinnies), in Strabane, Northern Ireland, ‘Cerne Abbas’, the giant naked chalk man in Dorset and the Marcus Rashford mural, by Akse in Manchester.

Separate research found three quarters of UK adults think famous outdoor artwork is a great way to put a place on the map.

However, 59 per cent say there isn’t enough free outdoor artwork within 10 miles of where they live.

Almost six in 10 (59 per cent) would love it if a ‘Banksy’ appeared overnight near their home, with 48 per cent adding that they’d like one of the mysterious guerrilla artist’s pieces to appear on the side of their home.

Two thirds (65 per cent) said people should find time to explore artistic landmarks which are local to their home. 

The same figure said they want councils to allow local artists to turn disused public land into art hubs.

The new show is fronted by Gemma Cairney, who delves into the purpose and power of public art as she joins Sky Arts on a mission to create the UK’s next major landmark.

She is joined by two expert judges – curator Clare Lilley and visual artist Hetain Patel – as well as six famous faces, all of them ready to root out the best artistic talent in the region or nation they call home.

As part of the series, Sky Arts is investing £700,000 in public art in total, commissioning 18 brand new pieces of public art around the country as well as a final national landmark worth £250,000.

Phil Edgar-Jones, Director, Sky Arts and Entertainment, said:

“Public art can be a source of pride and love and it’s great to see such a thoughtful, passionate response in support of Tommy – a piece that means such a lot in his local community. We’re looking forward to adding more joy to the world when Landmark hits the air next month.”

Landmark airs weekly from September 6 at 8pm on Sky Arts (Freeview Channel 11) and streaming service NOW.

*Top 20 pieces of outdoor artwork:

Tommy statue, Ray Lonsdale, Seaham
The Kelpies, Andy Scott, Falkirk
Uffington White Horse, Unknown, Oxfordshire
The Angel of the North, Antony Gormley, Gateshead
Women of Steel, Martin Jennings, Sheffield
Another Place, Antony Gormley, Crosby Beach
Hands and Molecule, David Barnes, Ramsgate
The Millennium Sculpture (The Tinnies), Maurice Harron, Strabane
Cerne Abbas, Unknown, Dorset
Marcus Rashford mural, Akse, Manchester
The Scallop, Maggi Hambling, Aldeburgh beach
Girl with the Pearl Earring, Banksy, Bristol
Bottle of Notes, Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen, Middlesbrough
Kielder Art & Architecture, Various, Northumberland
People Like Us, John Clinch, Cardiff Bay
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan, Toby and Gideon Petersen, Landovery
Verity, Damien Hirst, Ilfracombe
Superlambanana, Taro Chiezo, Liverpool
Conversation Piece, Juan Munoz, South Shields
Reaching Out, Thomas J Price, London

Notes to Editors

About Sky Arts

Sky Arts exists to bring more art to more people across the UK. In 2020, with the creative industries under serious threat, we threw open our doors to make the channel free for everyone to watch. We’ve redoubled our mission to increase access to the arts and we’re committed to getting everyone involved as the industry recovers. The fact is, we need the arts now like never before, and Sky Arts brings them straight to your living room. 

 We have something for everyone, championing creative talent by showcasing the best in music, theatre, dance, literature, opera and visual art. From Glyndebourne to Grime and Cézanne to The Style Council, we’ve got your passions covered. Millions of viewers tune in to hit returning series such as Portrait Artist of the Year, Urban Myths and British cultural institution The South Bank Show, but our acclaimed new programmes might take you anywhere from Pinter’s house with Danny Dyer to a Scottish road trip with Samuel Johnson.

Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. Sky Arts is the headline sponsor of National Theatre Live in the UK and we work with cultural partners across the country including the English National Opera, Royal Academy of Arts, Tate, Creative Industries Federation and Coventry City of Culture to name but a few.

You can watch Sky Arts for free on Freeview channel 11 and Freesat channel 147.  If you’ve got Sky or a Now TV entertainment pass, you can also watch over 2,000 hours of shows exclusively on demand.

We’re passionate about supporting the next generation of artists, so we’re working with five leading Sky Arts Ambassadors: Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo, dance artist Akram Khan, conductor Charles Hazlewood, Theatre Royal Stratford East Artistic Director Nadia Fall, and sculptor Anish Kapoor – to run bursary schemes for new and emerging talent.  

About Clare Lilley

Clare Lilley is Director of Programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, in 2014 named the UK Art Fund Museum of the Year. Clare graduated with a degree in the History of Art from Manchester University. She has a particular expertise in developing and siting sculpture in the public realm and her curated and published work with artists includes Ai Weiwei, Fiona Banner, Lucio Fontana, Damien Hirst, Amar Kanwar, KAWS, Kimsooja, Alfredo Jaar, Shirin Neshat, Giuseppe Penone, Sean Scully, Yinka Shonibare CBE, David Smith, James Turrell, Joana Vasconcelos and Bill Viola.Since 2012 Clare 
has curated Frieze Sculpture in London’s Regent’s Park and she has curated for Chatsworth House in Derbyshire and at San Giorgio Maggiore for the Venice Biennale. She contributes to publications, conferences, panel discussions and art prizes worldwide. Lilley sits on the Advisory Committee of the Government Art Collection and the boards of Art UK, London and the George Rickey Foundation, New York. She has been intimately involved with a number of YSP’s buildings across its 500 acres, including the Weston by Feilden Fowles, which in 2019 was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 23.4 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news and arts including our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love – with entertainment from Sky TV, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer, and apps like Spotify, YouTube, BBC Sounds, Highbrow, Peloton, Fiit, and more, in one place, easy. Our streaming service NOW brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service. Through our new B2B broadband provider, Sky Connect, we offer superfast broadband with business-grade 4G back-up to small businesses in the UK.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which will open in 2022, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation.  We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.