A new sculpture honouring Wearside’s shipbuilding heritage and the role of women in the Second World War is set to be installed at the University of Sunderland’s St Peter’s Campus this year.
The life-size corten steel sculpture, named Molly, pays tribute to the city’s forgotten women shipyard workers of the conflict.
It was crafted by Dr Ron Lawson, a senior lecturer at the university, who began his own career in heavy industry.
Dr Ron Lawson willth Molly, due to be installed at the University of Sunderland next year (Image: UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND)
Dr Lawson said: “Molly signifies and embodies the spirit of Sunderland women, their strength and resourcefulness, and I feel extremely privileged and proud to create this sculpture in tribute and remembrance of their industrious efforts.”
The installation of Molly has inspired a project by three university researchers, which explores Sunderland’s evolving creative industries while celebrating its industrial past.
In honour of Molly, two events have been organised by Dr Lawson and fellow researchers Dr Ashleigh Blackwood and Dr Victoria Rafferty.
The first event, “Making Molly: Stories and Ships in Sunderland,” is a family-friendly event featuring creative writing and storytelling workshops.
It will delve into Molly’s life in the shipbuilding yards during the Second World War, and imagine her existence as a sculpture on the riverside.
This will be hosted by Sunderland-based charity More Than Grandparents at Lambton House, High Street West, West Sunniside, on Saturday, November 9, from 11am to 1pm.
The second event, “Writing the Wartime Shipyards,” is scheduled for the same day from 3pm to 5pm at Sunderland City Hall.
This will be targeted at budding historians, creative writers, and anyone with an interest in Sunderland’s heritage.
The researchers hope these events will help them understand more about the importance of creativity in Sunderland and inspire people to become involved in the city’s growing creative sector.
Dr Blackwood said: “Our participants will be designing their own stories and artworks in response to the new sculpture so that we can find out what’s most important to our local community in the future creative development of Sunderland and the wider North East.”
Dr Rafferty said: “Through these events, members of the local community will have the opportunity to get involved with a live research project.
“By capturing people’s thoughts and imagination of what Molly means to them, we would like to gather the stories and pictures people create to inform our understanding of different ways in which people engage with art.”
The Molly sculpture was commissioned by the Sunderland branch of the Soroptimists, with the support of Sunderland City Council.
Councillor Beth Jones, Communities, Culture and Tourism Portfolio Holder at Sunderland City Council, said: “It’s wonderful to see how Molly is inspiring a greater understanding of the amazing Sunderland women who played such a vital role in the war effort.
“This is exactly why public art like this is so important.”
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The events are part of this year’s Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities, running from November 6 to 17.
The 2024 programme features more than 230 events in 58 towns and cities across the UK.
Professor Sarah Churchwell, director of Being Human Festival, said: “If the humanities are an investigation of all that it means to be human, Being Human Festival is a celebration of all that our intelligent, maddening, creative, terrifying species has to offer.”
