Date:	July 2008
Artist:	Andrew Rowe
Location:	Aberafan, South Wales

In conjunction with Neath Port Talbot and The Arts Council of
Wales, Safle commissioned Welsh Artist Andrew Rowe to design and
make the Aberafan Seafront Markers.

Two dramatic steel sculptures installed on the seafront at Aberafan, Port Talbot forms part of the regeneration programme for Aberafan Seafront and have been jointly funded by Neath Port Talbot Council, the Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Assembly Government. The ‘Kite Tail’ sculpture is the largest single piece of artwork to be installed in Wales and is 42-foot-high and 17 tonnes in weight.

Welsh Artist Andrew Rowe won the commission in a competition with over 40 applicants from around the UK and internationally.

The two sculptures were both inspired by the ribbon of a kite but are contrasting in design. The ‘Kite Tail’ loops through itself and is one continuous band of steel. They will also be lit at night.

Andrew Rowe said “I’m incredibly proud of this achievement. The design and construction have been an immense challenge but I am delighted with the result. The work effectively entails keeping approximately 17 tonnes of flowing steel forms aloft with seemingly very little contact with the ground. It was inspired by seeing families flying kites on the long, windy stretch of sand that in Aberafan Beach.”

Wiard Sterk, Executive Director of Safle said: “The Installation of this imaginative public work of art is a tremendous achievement. It is the result of great creativity and originality mixed with a fabulous feat of engineering.”

Andrew Rowe commissioned Alan Dawson to engineer and fabricate the artwork. The model created by created by Andrew was scanned and the engineering calculations proved out to be the most complicated problem ever solved by Alan Dawson.