As part of the WOW Rotherham festival, artists Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich of Walker and Bromwich will be showing ‘Siege Weapons of Love’ a series of inflatable sculptures that combine potent symbols of war (tanks, missiles, guns) with flowers and organic forms. In this sense, these machines of violence are rendered impotent, and instead blossom into symbols of peace and unity. This will include a vibrant, loud and joyful procession on Saturday 16^th July around the festival site, which will culminate at a beautiful arch decorated with handmade flowers. On Sunday 17^th July, the flowers will be gifted to festival visitors as a symbol of love and generosity.

We’d love hundreds of people from across Rotherham– be they experienced artists, complete beginners or somewhere in between, to get involved and make your own flower as a symbol of love to show people what a wonderful, welcoming place Rotherham is. Flowers should be created in a colour palette of pinks, reds, purples, oranges and yellows. Ideally, they will have a wire structure so that they can be wired onto the arch.

Here’s what you can do if you’d like to take part, as an activity group, school or individual of any age:

• Create some flowers of your own design to decorate the arch. You can send them to us by 10^th July and we will add them to the installation for you. Flowers can be sent to Flux Rotherham, Voluntary Action Rotherham, The Spectrum, Coke Hill, Rotherham, S60 2HX

• You can also download the patterns and instructions provided by Walker and Bromwich and get making. Again send us your wonderful creations and we’ll add them to the arch for you.
• If you’d like a bit of help and have a group of people who are interested, let us know and we can provide you with a free artist to help- they’ll bring all the resources that you’ll need and will be able to show you wonderful techniques to make your creations even more amazing! Just email [email protected] and mark your subject- ‘wow flower workshops’
• If you’re on Facebook join ‘The Siege of Love Flower Project group’ and share your creations with everyone
• Come along to the festival and take part in the procession!