Laurence Edwards: Beast of Burden
Title: Beast of Burden
Artist: Laurence Edwards (b. 1967, British)
Location: Altar, Holy Trinity Blythburgh (C of E)
Date: 2013
‘Behind the altar table in Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh, Suffolk, is a powerful altarpiece by Laurence Edwards. Cast in bronze from the mud, wood and hogweed that can be found all around the Suffolk locality, Edward’s sculpture brings the precise beauty of the outside marsh into the church in a way that combines imagination, emotion and spirit.
The figure is bent under the burden of life’s troubles, but its open arms describe a 14ft span in a gesture of welcome and inclusion, echoing the wingspan of the celebrated Blythburgh angels in the roof above.’ (Source: Of Mud and Angels, Meryl Doney)
Beast of Burden was gifted on permanent loan to Holy Trinity Blythburgh in 2013.
Laurence Edwards began his training at Lowestoft Art College, then studied sculpture at Canterbury College of Art, going on to do postgraduate study at the Royal College of Art. Edwards was awarded a Henry Moore bursary and the Angeloni Prize for bronze casting. Studies of casting techniques while on a travel scholarship to India and Nepal allowed him to set up his own foundry and atelier. In 1992, he established Yew Tree Farm Studios in Laxfield, and co-founded a US-UK Iron Pour residency and exchange with Professor Coral Lambert at Alfred University in New York. Best known for his experiments in lost wax casting, in 2006 Edwards won the Royal Society Portrait Sculpture and was elected fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 2012.
Further information
Medium: Bronze (cast)
Size: 14ft span
Permanent display
See Laurence Edwards’ Beast of Burden on the Ecclesiart map here.