Update - April 2018! This piece has been given a permanent home at The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England and can be visited any time! many thanks to Mike Chislett and the team who fundraised and arranged this permanent home among the trees for this lovely piece of community art. The Ark School have now named their sculpture 'Posted!' and there was a big celebration at the school yesterday where the new sculpture was unveiled. I have been waiting to post (!) photos of the finished piece but didn't want to spoil the surprise for everyone at JHQ Rheindahlen. Up close the piece sparkles in the sunlight and the copper wings of the birds add some density to the ethereal structure I was aiming for. I love that the work is very much as drawn firstly by myself as a sketch book idea and secondly and most importantly that the children have their birds exactly as they created them. The finished piece really encompasses the ideology behind the experience

Melissa Cole - Artist blacksmith with over 25 years experience based in the Pewsey Vale near Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Making hand made contemporary designed ironwork for the home and garden from forged steel and wrought iron. . Commissions taken for bespoke gates, railings and public and private sculptures. Private tutor running blacksmithing and sculptural metalwork courses from her forge in Wiltshire. https://linktr.ee/melissacole001