Linda Brothwell

Elegantly twisting across the front of our building, and visible as you approach Bristol Beacon from the centre of the city, is Linda Brothwell’s beautiful bronze sculpture Motion Efficiency Study.

Evolving from the original balustrade of The Lantern that traversed the front exterior of our building, Brothwell’s sculpture transforms into a flowing ribbon of glistening metal that dances across our threshold.

Fascinated by capturing sound in movement, Brothwell has jumped into our history to find stimulus for her art. Sounds and actions that have happened around our building have inspired her. Such as the moment when Elsie Howey hid in our organ to shout “Votes for Women” in 1909, the performers who waited outside a 2nd story external door to come on stage, and Ella Fitzgerald’s performance in the hall in 1961.

Brothwell draws on her training in metalwork and combines her interests in heritage, movement in response to sound and how objects hold memory to create Motion Efficiency Study – her first permanent UK public commission.