Since our announcement in September 2024 that we had raised the money to commission a new bronze statue of Bendigo for Nottingham City Centre, progress has been continuing behind the scenes, including a visit to the foundry where he will be immortalised in bronze.
Andy Edwards, the renowned British sculptor has been working to create this significant piece of public art. The clay statue is now ready for the mould to be applied and the work preserved for the moment when Nottingham’s first sporting superstar can be finally cast in bronze.
Trustees of the Bendigo Heritage Project were invited to see the clay sculpture in person at the Tanat Foundry of Castle Fine Arts in Wales.
The visit took place on Thursday 10th July when we met with Andy Edwards and discussed some finer details to the work. We also started exchanging ideas about the architecture around how the statue will be best displayed to the public.
Castle Fine Arts Foundry proudly state:
The unveiling of a new sculpture is the result of a lot of hard work and a real team effort. It’s an exciting time for everyone involved and at Castle Fine Arts we are very proud of the role we play in creating public art – a role which extends way beyond the technical aspects of the casting.
Top Secret
Whilst we are proudly keeping the details of the statue a secret, here’s a hint about the kind of detail that will be incorporated into it. Starting with of course that famous ‘south-paw’ that made Bendigo an international icon of the sport.
The Greatest
While we were there, Andy told us about his statue of Muhammad Ali which he created to commemorate the visit of Ali to Stoke on Trent in 2009. A bronze cast was presented to The Greatest, which he took back to his home in Kentucky. Ali was invited to choose whether the statue’s shorts and boots to be coloured in white. He agreed so that he was easily recognisable from a distance.
We were allowed to see the statue of the legendary boxer who many have compared to Bendigo
Ali’s pose is taken from his second fight with Sonny Liston, in May 1965, the moment that changed the boxer’s life and world history forever..
The full-size bronze statue has been displayed in Doha, Qatar and The O2 in London.
