WILD UPLANDS Part of Bradford 2025
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Large stacked oblong shapes, making an arch sculpture made from wool, standing alone on open moorland under a partly cloudy sky with hills in the distance.

Tower

Steve Messam

Tower was a sculpture that explored the building blocks of Penistone Hill’s landscape and their relationship to the building of Bradford.

Explore the artwork through this series of photographs, videos and accompanying audio description.

Large stacked oblong shapes, forming an arch sculpture made from wool, positioned on open moorland beneath a clear blue sky, with two dogs running in the foreground.
Large stacked oblong shapes forming an arch sculpture made from wool, standing on open moorland under a deep blue sky, with a person in black clothing standing beneath the arch for scale.

This ten metre high sculpture was a tower of stacked block forms with a central arch and was based on the rocks from the former quarries on Penistone Hill, quarries that once supplied stone to build Bradford. 

Large stacked oblong shapes, forming an arch sculpture made from wool, standing alone on moorland with heather and grass in the foreground, under a lightly clouded sky with distant hills in view.

The sculpture was clad in the raw fleece of Derbyshire Gritstone and Lonk sheep which came from local farms in the Worth Valley.  The fleece cladding of the sculpture referenced the role played by sheep in physically shaping and maintaining the surrounding landscape, and by the importance of wool in the industrial history of Bradford. 

Large stacked oblong shapes forming an arch sculpture made from wool, standing on open moorland with a lone tree nearby, under a clear blue sky.

Tower sat right on the top of Penistone Hill and could be seen from miles away. Up close you were able to stand inside the arch and touch both sides, or stand back and watch the sun set though it.  

Large stacked oblong shapes forming an arch sculpture made from wool, standing on open moorland under a deep blue sky, with a person in black clothing standing beneath the arch for scale.
Large stacked oblong shapes, forming an arch sculpture made from wool, standing alone on moorland with heather and grass in the foreground, under a lightly clouded sky with distant hills in view.
Large stacked oblong shapes forming an arch sculpture made from wool, standing on open moorland with a lone tree nearby, under a clear blue sky.

Explore the details

Close-up of rough, natural wool fibers densely packed on the surface of the wool arch sculpture, with blurred greenery and landscape visible in the background.
Close-up angled view of the wool arch sculpture, showing its textured wool surface and stacked geometric forms against a deep blue sky with scattered clouds.
Detailed close-up of raw wool fibres packed against wooden panels and held in place by chicken wire mesh, showing the construction technique used in the wool arch sculpture.
Low-angle view of large stacked oblong shapes forming the wool arch sculpture, showing its textured wool surface against a clear blue sky.

Experience the sculpture through this video and audio description

Large stacked oblong shapes forming an arch sculpture made from wool, standing on open moorland beside large scattered stones, with two people walking nearby under an overcast sky.

Find out more about Steve Messam’s inspiration and process for creating Tower in this video interview

Person in a high-visibility vest working outdoors on a wooden board, attaching raw wool into chicken wire using tools, with open moorland and hills in the background under clear blue sky.

Biography

Steve Messam is an environmental artist based in rural County Durham. His site-specific installations reimagine the everyday, interrupting protected landscapes and historical architecture to help us look at familiar environments in new ways.

Previous works include ‘PaperBridge’ (2015), a functioning packhorse bridge in the Lake District made from 22,000 sheets of paper, and ‘Hush’ (2019), a lead-mining scar in the North Pennines filled with more than five kilometres of saffron-yellow fabric.

Visit the Artist’s website
The artist (Steve Messam) dressed in black clothing and sunglasses standing in front of large stacked oblong shapes forming a wool arch sculpture on open moorland under a clear blue sky.
“I’m honoured to be invited to create something ambitious for this year’s programme. As a rurally based artist I’m particularly excited to be working out on the moors in a much wider view of what makes a cultural city.”
– Steve Messam

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