'Her Head' on International Womens Day.....

All through the city of Stoke-on-Trent you'll find lots and lots of statues. Some are placed in places with a high volume of traffic. Some cost A LOT of money. Some are shiny, some are unloved. As a group we decided that this particular piece of art from the 80's needed a facelift.

She's called 'Her Head'. Given to the city of Stoke-on-Trent as a gift from the artist Dhruva Mistry

We gathered all together.

This was to be our first daytime yarnbomb. It didn't go without a hitch though.

I guess we should have known. You see, the statue is right next to the Army Careers Advice Centre. Next to there?? In the adjacent office block??....Only the flippin council!

It wasn't long before we were approached by three people. Not so official looking but obviously not the usual spectators. Two men said they were from the council and asked (quite politely I may add) what we were doing and would we be leaving it all there. We (politely) told the men that we were celebrating International Womens Day by installing a beautiful scarf onto 'Her Head'. It had taken a few of us quite a few hours to make. 'Yes, we are leaving it here'. They hit us with a slightly amusing sentence....'You can't, its flytipping!' He asked if we'd like to go up to see his manager Mr.P.

The other lady who came with the two men hadn't introduced herself. We later learnt that she was from the careers office. She suggested that we take it to a childrens nursery or something and then added,

'I'm not being horrible but why don't you do it at the library?'

That really made one of us giggle. Why would doing it at the library be horrible? Our city library is great! Right next door to the potteries museum, which for me is inspirational :0)

After meeting with Mr.P. (who was a bit confused by the whole thing) he took my contact numbers and told me that he'd ring me to come and remove it if anyone complained in the next few days. Complain? Really?

I would think most people would smile as they walked by, like our one talking spectator.....

"I used to kiss this lady every day on my way to work. I guess I'm just too busy now, with work and stuff. You get tangled up in life don't you? Well, now you've done this, I might start giving her a kiss again"

So if nothing else, we've made this guy smile on his way to work everyday.

Here's what she looked like BEFORE her makeover......

and AFTER.......



I think she has an enigmatic smile. Like Mona Lisa. She looks happier with a scarf on now somehow.

We'd love to do more sculptures around the city. There are loads of them that people don't notice.

Here's a site showing all kinds of art around the city.

Here's another and another and finally another

The silver tree is my personal favourite. It'd look really great with some birds perched on it *ponders*

Better get the number for the councils art department. Do they have even have an art department? They should if they have all those sculptures going un-noticed......



We've recieved word today that the scarf has gone :0(
It was great while it lasted and has made many people talk about
'Her Head' and International Womens Day.
RIP Scarf.
Sadly missed 20th March, 2012