Ray Lonsdale has works around the country that have been crafted in his South Hetton workshop in his trademark corten steel. But have you found all Ray’s striking pieces in Sunderland and Seaham, which recently welcomed some new additions?
Here’s where to spot them and their meanings, including a ‘hidden’ sculpture you may not yet have spotted.
1. It Says Here, St Peter's Riverside
It Says Here is one of two major new works unveiled by Ray on St Peter's Riverside this year to honour Sunderland's shipbuilding heritage. Towering at 2.7metres high, it depicts two shipyard workers having their lunch together, reading about the closure of the yards in the Sunderland Echo, and captures the mood of people in the city as the industry came to the end of its life. | Sunderland Echo
2. Then Gone, Bells Fish & Chip restaurant, Seaham
Created with son, Sam Lonsdale, Then Gone is Ray's newest sculpture to be installed in the area. Affectionately known as George, the sculpture is seven times the size of a miner and was a new scale for Ray. Standing tall outside Bells Fish & Chip shop, the piece was commissioned by Bells owner Graham Kennedy to pay tribute to the town’s long and rich mining history and his own father, Alan Kennedy, who worked at Vane Tempest pit, and father in law, George Lloyd, who worked at Herrington Colliery. | Sunderland Echo
3. Launch Day, St Peter's Riverside.
Also on St Peter's Riverside, and forming part of the city's growing sculpture trail, is Launch Day. Set decades after It Says Here, it captures one of the former shipyard workers, now a grandfather, telling his granddaughter stories about what it was like to work in the shipyards. | Sunderland Echo
4. Gan Canny, Keel Square
Once a common sight on the streets of Sunderland, Gan Canny depicts the dray horses which brought Vaux beer to the pubs. The old Vaux brewery dominated the city skyline and was a major employer in Sunderland for almost 200 years until its closure in 1999. This sculpture overlooks the old Vaux site, now home to the Riverside development. | Sunderland Echo