Looping boat art unveiled on the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal

Photo credit: Marc Wilmot

A loop-de-loop canal boat sculpture has been unveiled to celebrate Sheffield's historic waterways and industrial heritage. 

The full-sized canal boat, sculpted from rolled steel, is centred on the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, a 200-year-old waterway. It's the first artwork on water by ‘Art’s Master Illusionist’ British artist Alex Chinneck, with an impressive looping structure measuring 13 metres long and six metres high.

The artwork has been named 'The Industry' after the first vessel that navigated the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal when it opened in 1819 and references the history of Tinsley, painted using traditional signwriting and canal boat colours.

The fabrication of the looping boat required 9 tonnes of helically rolled steel and aluminium, finished with a high grade marine paint. 

Speaking about the creation of the artwork which has been in the making for several years, Alex Chinneck said: This is a collaborative work involving structural engineers, specialist steel fabricators, waterway contractors, professional painters and traditional canal boat sign writers. Without question, this is my most complex and challenging artwork to date.”

Located between locks 4 and 5 of Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, near to Meadowhall Shopping Centre, its position away from the navigable channel of the canal serves as a gallery space for the sculpture, enabling the artwork to be viewed from 180 degrees by passing narrowboats and from the towpath.

Now a permanent piece of public art for the city, the project was co-funded by British Land and by energy company E.On, who committed to creating a public artwork as part of its redevelopment of the Blackburn Meadows site, now the home of a biomass-fueled energy park that generates electricity and heating for Sheffield.

Visitors wanting to view the artwork can walk along the Sheffield Tinsley Canal from Victoria Quays (just under 3 miles and takes about 1 hour), or to get there quicker you can catch the Supertram to Carbrook or train to Meadowhall.

For a proper day of waterway walking, pick up The Blue Loop and combine the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal walk with the Five Weirs Walk on the return route to Sheffield, or vice versa. 

Photo credit: Marc Wilmot