The Town Council is committed to creating a town that celebrates public art, both temporary and permanent. There are many examples. There are lions in the town centre: the Wiltshire Lion painted by Jonathan Sanders (of Sanders Paintings and Sculpture on Pickwick Road) and Lionardo, painted by Caroline Rudge , one of the artists in residence at The Pound. There are the murals decorating the Co-op and in the Newlands Road (Co-op) car park painted by Rob Cowan and Phoebe Tonkin and funded by Martingate. You’ll find mosaics in the Martingate and at Springfield Campus and, at Springfield Rec, on the Valley Road entrance, you’ll find the flower-strewn gates created by local artist Anya Beaumont. Even Lacock Road Cemetery features artwork, designed by Caroline Rudge.

Temporary public art projects, many of which are in conjunction with The Pound, have seen an animated Christmas display in the windows of the Town Hall; recycled floral displays on town centre buildings, and yellow gibbons created by artist Duncan McKellar, that brightened the High Street in the summer of 2020.

The Cotswold Sheep

In the summer of 2024, Corsham  welcomed a new public artwork to the town that not only highlights one of its key gateways, but also celebrates the town’s heritage and its links to the woollen industry, as well as giving local schools the chance to get involved in a special Arts project.

The Cotswold Sheep sculpture, created by local artist Jonathan Sanders, stands on a plinth at the Cross Keys junction on the busy A4. This first, bronze-coloured sculpture has been the model for what will be a whole flock as each school in Corsham will have a sheep to decorate and each will take its turn to stand on the plinth. The Corsham School already has their sheep and is running a whole-school competition to choose the design which will then be painted on by the winning artist, with support from A-Level Art students.

Town Council Chair, Cllr Alan Brown, said: “We are delighted to celebrate two important parts of Corsham’s history with our Cotswold Sheep project. The wool industry was hugely important to Corsham until the Industrial Revolution, with Flemish weavers being based here. And the town has a glorious reputation for the Arts, from the collection of Old Masters at Corsham Court, which is also where the famous Bath Academy of Art started, to the Pound Arts Centre and the creative businesses and industries based here. The fact that we are also able to give our young people a chance to have their artwork at a site that will be seen by thousands of people every day is very exciting.”

Along with the sheep, which have been funded via the Community Infrastructure Levy developers have to pay to improve areas where they build, it is hoped that the Cross Keys plinth will be the site for a regularly-changing series of artworks over the months and years ahead.

The next public art project to be installed, in early autumn, will be in the Portland Rise/Potley and Pockeridge area, close to the railway bridge. Artists Caroline Rudge and Rachel Heard have worked with the local community to design a new piece of artwork that reflects the flora and fauna of the area. In a separate project, the shipping container at the Brunel Shed at Potley will be decorated by graffiti artist Baz Hurlow in another community project that highlights the local wildlife.

We are also looking to produce a Public Art Trail in the near future, so watch this space.