Venus and Cupid statue is coming back to the prom this coming Saturday

Morecambe, UK, June 4, 2019 — The iconic Venus & Cupid sculpture will be returned to its site at Scalestones Point on Saturday 8th June 2019. The Venus & Cupid Arts Trust, which took over the maintenance of the sculpture in 2015, has announced that after 7 months in its temporary home in the Arndale Morecambe Bay most of the funds needed for the repair have been raised and the work is now finished.

On Saturday morning 8th June 2019 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.

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 ceramic ware. 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.

“The costs of the whole project including transport has been over £4,000” disclosed Siân Johnson, Chair of the Trust. “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 9th June, setting off from the Morecambe golf course car park, and a Prize Draw is being run until 29th June, “But 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” said Siân.

Details:

Lancaster Races: call 01524 60537 or visit https://www.lancaster-race-series.co.uk/fun-runs/morecambe-5km-save-our-sculpture/.
Venus & Cupid Prize Draw: call 01524 83600.