Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 24th November, 2023)

Another non sensical sculpture. Just like the silver head, and include the Billy Boston Statue which is nothing like him.

I don't understand why these 'art installations ' are not kept clean. This is quite attractive but spoilt by that damp green slime.

A modern take on a Tee pee but I bet its been used has a toilet by many a dog/human over the years

At least it matches with the bent railings .

I would never have known that was anything to do with the warp and weft of weaving....it's not much of a symbol of ANYTHING if we have to be told what it is. Sorry, but that's a waste of time and money. Something in the shape of a cotton-mill shuttle would have given a clue, at least to the older generation, as to what it was representing, and could have been explained to the younger generation had they been interested. If my grandson had asked me what the above was meant to be I would have been as lost as him!

I’m not into modern art at all. I can’t see warp and weft in that. A child could do better I think. If it’s meant to be raw cotton in the first stages even that fails. It’s the first I have seen it… I can imagine the furore when it was ‘unveiled’. “Each to his own”.

Sorry , but is the fence part of the Warp

Means nothing to me.
And nothing to past industries and growth for the future.

A load of junk once again, no style and design. Pointless.

Another laughing stock for Wigan and Wiganers.

Thanks Brian, unlike The Face, which has at least some recognisable meaning, like or loath it, to my mind this represents nothing, no more than a pile of junk left over from a building demolition. Does this make me a philistine?
The country is littered with this kind of so called 'Street Art'. To me it represents councils with more money than sense trying to prove that they have a modern outlook to art. There would be more meaning in a Mop and Bucket.

PS. I think that Cherry Picker in the background has more aesthetic appeal. An engineering work of art and human ingenuity that I could marvel at all day as it articulates its arm towards the sky and then retracts into a compact foetal position.
I bet more people have stopped and looked at that dent in the fence discussing what could have happened and its true meaning in a modern world than have read the plaque!

I have looked up the Artist of this ‘project’ and it looks like he is more of a creative engineering designer. He’s done other things that look better than this one. I imagine he started off designing elaborate garden gates. Just my opinion and this bunch of pointed steel would have been more appropriate outside a steel works if anything! And I’m sure that would be an insult.

That's right Colin , it certainly forces the viewer to ponder on the inter relationship between car bumper and fence and is above all symbolic of the driver's culpability when reversing without looking in the mirror .
Heavy stuff .

Warp and weft are the two basic components used in weaving to turn thread or yarn into fabric. The lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns are held stationary in tension on a frame or loom while the horizontal weft is drawn through and inserted over and under the warp, says Wikipedia.
So its not only a piece of beautiful sculpture its also educational, showing Wigan younger generation what Wigan was famous for, just like the Billy Boston statue and the pit man family who are stood in the cold outside of Wigan baths.

Been there 21 years and you are only just moaning.

It’s nothing like anything that’s been weaved! A sack full of fluff would have given more information about the work in a cotton mill.!!! It’s certainly NOT educational. Just another
‘arty farty’ lump of steel. I can’t see anybody linking that sculpture with a cotton mill.
It’s not even in the same class as the family ‘out in the cold’ either - or the Billy Boston statue which both are in my opinion works of art…
( even if not quite a Billy Boston look alike it shows his muscles to perfection)

Many people who are still alive and well in Wigan worked in the local cotton mills and know perfectly well how cotton is woven but I doubt any of them would have known this even represented warp and weft. Yes, the mining family statue speaks for itself, as does the rugby statue showing Billy Boston; they both say what Wigan is known for and proud of, but the above sculpture says absolutely nothing....how many people on here would have passed it and known what it represented? It would have made more sense to have a sculpture of a pie....at least people would have known what it was!

'Molly' strikes again.but in another form.

Malc will have hired that Cherry-picker to clean all the street art around town, and also The Face that cost more than a thousand ships on the 'I don't Believe it Square' he'll have to get a Ukulele and wear a big grin too whilst singing 'When I'm Cleaning Street Art'

They can only understand 'up and over' in Wigan Molly even with all the cotton weaving that's happened over the years, and though the council has rid the town of cloth caps and whippets - pipes have been replaced with vapes

Poet, Warp and Weft my............ Unlike that fence which exudes a kind of existential surreal message of how a thing of beauty and safety can succumb to a meaningless act of violence in the age of the Automobile.
I think it should be removed and put on a plinth of marble at the top of Standishgate as an example of Wigan life in the early 21st Century for future generations to marvel at.
Perhaps though first it should start world tour at the Tate Modern London, New York, Bilbao and Tate Modern Liverpool? That would bring tourist to Wigan eager to see the place of its birth and the environment which formed and led to its creation. I can almost read that on the Plaque!
I once visited Tate Modern Liverpool and was amazed at all those gullible people staring at blank canvases, piles of bricks, and meaningless chunks of junk deep all in conversation and thought on the merits of each. I walked along behind muttering Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish.
Yes I suppose I must be a Philistine.

Here in darkest Norfolk we must be due for some 'levelling up ' cash because we are deprived of modern street art, ie we haven't got any ......thank the Lord.

Just realised where it is?? I must have driven past it hundreds of times but I've never noticed it?

Exactly Jean…my thoughts too.

Helen, many of my in-laws live on the Fens, I am coming down to Norfolk in 2025 for a Wedding at Oxnead Hall. Spent many happy times in Norfolk from Kings Lynne, Wells next the Sea and Cromer, but I digress.
You did say that you found it quite attractive. If you like I could have the Warp and Weft thing unbolted and bring it down for your garden, I think most of todays contributors would contribute to the cost. It would brighten up those dark winter nights when illuminated and be popular with the neighbours?
Come to think of it though, I am sure that Norfolk had thousands of these 'Objet D'art' things during WW2 to stop German Tanks rolling up on the beaches!!!!!

Well Brian, that bit of pretentious Warp and Weft nonsense stirred a few things up!

I might not see warp and weft in the ‘sculpture’ but I can see a couple of posts with warped ways of thinking.

ALL ABOARD , ALL ABOARD!
Now boarding at all stations to Negativity!
Calling at Moaning , Groaning and Misery !
Good day Mr Scrooge
Humbug , what’s good about it . People like you should be locked up with all your smiling and wishing folk good cheer ! I bid you farewell sir .

And Mr Woo aswell, Jean and Veronica.

My monthly bank statement reveals that a sum of £ 114 .00 has recently been transferred from my bank account … ( for transferred read sequestered) ,… into the coffers of Wigan council. This occurs on a monthly basis by the way .
Now I consider myself to be a reasonable bloke , and as I’ve rarely , if ever received owt for nowt , then I grudgingly … very grudgingly in fact …. consider this to be acceptable .

I don’t object to paying for street lighting , street cleaning , ( if that actually happens these days ) , filling in potholes etc. … and I don’t actually object to smackheads being given board and lodging at the Oak hotel at my expense , as keeping pond life off the streets must also surely come with its own price tag .
What I do object to however ( amongst a few other things ) is that my money is being wantonly splurged on garbage like the above.
( without my prior knowledge or permission that is )
The likes of which can be purchased any day of the week at Calderbank's yard for a tenner or less .

I find this all extremely frustrating .
If you vote for the bar stewards that make up Wiggin council , then you’ll ultimately end up with another pile of scrap metal heaped up at the side of the road … albeit in a somewhat artistic fashion … if you don’t vote for any of these dimwits , or indeed any of the other slack jawed pillocks that throw their caps into the ring , then you’ve automatically ticked the ‘ not entitled to complain ‘ box .

Go figure that one .

Great system this innit ?

Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Are there no cotton mills? Well, if there ARE cotton mills but we have to rely on that sculpture to know what warp and weft are, then God Bless Us, Every One!

I wonder if Adrian knows about the appalling lung disease that resulted from the warp and weft that was breathed in by thousands of unsuspecting Mill workers? Warp and weft that accumulated in their lungs where it slowly rotted and destroyed the lungs it was in?
Would he know about the endless, miserable, pain filled nights spent coughing and gasping in a vain effort to get just a little bit more oxygen into those ruined lungs?
Not Adrian’s fault of course, but not something we need to celebrate.

£114 a month for a rusty Air Raid Shelter Ozy? They must have seen the AGA through the open door!
You’ll have to keep them exotic alcoholic beverages under the bed in future Ozy.
If you need any help disposing of the evidence Ozy I’m always available

Good night everyone.

Good morning everyone.
Nothing like a bit of banter to get the opinions flowing.
Hope everyone enjoyed exercising their grey cells by putting in their penny worth.

My mother one of thousands God rest her soul died aged 63 from diseased lungs after working in the cotton mill from leaving school.
She always came home covered in the cotton waste. Little did we know what the cotton did to the lungs.
I still can’t link the steel prongs to the warp and weft. I can link the warp and weft to the tapestry of life though and how it frays at the edges until we are no more!

Sad to hear that story Veronica, what with the Cotton Mills and the Coal Mines, Wigan paid a heavy price for its hard working class.
Perhaps they will put a celebration modern work of Art celebrating Turner Bros. Asbestos! I thing not unless its something decent to commemorate all those who died miserably or are still suffering.

I get the feeling that there's a mix-up here. Warp and Weft relate to the weaving of fabric, where this 'artwork' (?) appears to represent the spinning of the yarn used as warp and weft in the fabric production process.
Could it be that the creator of the piece, or perhaps the creator of the title plaque, didn't know the ins and outs of the industry or the difference in a cotton mill and a textile factory?

“Warped and Left” would have been a better name.

Erected in 2002. Pity it doesn't represent Wigan folk who suffered in the mills very well. Reminds me more of the famous ancient ruin of Wigan. Twisted steel girders from the demolished central park rugby stadium in 1999, just down the road from this W&W location. Perhaps it would look a bit better in cherry and white with the title changed. Unfortunate it's not an authentic sample, salvaged from the spion cop stand. Could have saved the council a few bob.