Keywords
Citation
(1999), "There goes a dragonfly - here comes a dragon", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 46 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.1999.12846eab.012
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
There goes a dragonfly - here comes a dragon
Keywords Joseph Ash, Galvanizing, Steel
A gleaming, larger-than-life dragonfly has just "taken-off" from Joseph Ash Galvanizing, Hereford.
The 10-metre wide steel sculpture - made almost entirely from scap steel - is the creation of Walenty Pytel and was commissioned by a developer looking for a dramatic piece of art for a new roundabout in Bristol (Plate 1).
Plate 1
Sculptor Walenty Pytel (right) and Clive Trenchard, customer services manager of
Joseph Ash Galvanizing, Hereford, are dwarfed by Mr Pytel's dragonfly creation
as it emerges from the dipping tank
Inspiration for a dragonfly, and an equally large butterfly, came when Ross-on-Wye-based Mr Pytel learned that the roundabout straddled a stream which had previously provided the ideal habitat for both species.
"The developers wanted something that was dramatic and that was clearly visible from a distance", said Mr Pytel.
The dragonfly, which weighs one ton, will be placed at the top of a 40-metre pole secured in an eight-ton concrete base.
It took seven months to create and was built in five parts to enable galvanizing prior to final construction.
Clive Trenchard, customer services manager of Joseph Ash Galvanizing Hereford, said:
We specialise in structural galvanizing; however, it always makes a refreshing change to work with Walenty.
We have galvanized the 26ft Jubilee Fountain which stands outside the Houses of Parliament, the 28ft sculpture of three egrets at Birmingham International Airport, and we will shortly dip a Welsh Dragon commissioned by the Welsh Social Club in Hereford.
Sculptures which are not galvanized will have up to a ten-year life span before corrosion really takes hold. Those sculptors, like Walenty, who opt for galvanizing are ensuring that their creations will "live on" for many more years.