Doncaster art project takes flight this November

A six foot starling sculpture that will be placed in the grounds of Doncaster Minster from November 25 to 27.

Doncaster is one of the best places in the country to see a murmuration of starlings, the celebrated mass flight of birds that creates extraordinary patterns in the autumn sky.

And it’s that unique natural phenomenon that award-winning film maker and multi media specialist Wayne Sables will capture in a new work for Doncaster community arts group Right Up Our Street.

Central to the commission is a six foot starling sculpture that will be placed in the grounds of Doncaster Minster from November 25 to 27.

Wayne Sables, an associate artist at Cast in Doncaster and is the co organiser for TEDx Doncaster and TEDx Doncaster Youth.

And as darkness falls on all three nights, Wayne will use projection mapping techniques to bring the sculpture to life in a programme of sound and colour and that will run for free every evening for five hours.

“Doncaster is a major location for these incredible flights of starlings and I thought that was a great metaphor for many of the things I feel about the town because those birds are showing what a true spirit of community is all about because it’s only by working together that they create those aerial displays,” Wayne explained.

“I interviewed lots of people at the start of the project about what they think is great about Doncaster and the one word that kept coming out of those talks was community.

“The sculpture itself is essentially a giant paper lantern and the images projected onto it will become increasingly abstract and hopefully capture some of the spirit of a full murmuration.

“This is quite unlike anything I have done in the past and I am really excited to be able to bring this project to life and celebrate a unique Doncaster natural feature and also the town’s great community spirit.”