Commission: From Grasses to Grains

The commission for public art arose through the redevelopment of the facilities at NIAB Trust and a new relationship with Cambridge University Plant Sciences. An exciting time for the organisation as it falls at the centenary of Niab.

The sculpture created by Will Nash used an abstracted form of a grain of wheat as the basis for the piece. The pair of loops created are repeated 100 times to reflect the centenary and rotated to give the twist that occurs as plants grow. The moire effect of the repeating lines contrasts with the vertical and horizontal lines of the buildings.

At the centre of Will Nash’s practice is a concern with form, structure and quantity. His sculptures and installations are the result of ongoing explorations of mathematical forms and the relationships they have with one another. His different bodies of work fall into families of these forms that are connected by a particular geometry, repeating sequences of planes and angles to create similar variations on a theme. The project for NIAB Trust offered an opportunity to explore the form and rotation of grains of wheat. Will has taken this to an extreme following time spent in the glasshouses and alongside scientists exploring hybridisation.

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The maquette and information about the sculpture formed the basis for an exhibition ‘One Grain’. Further detail can be found in News.

Artist: Will Nash

Material: stainless steel

Location: Lawrence Weaver Road, Cambridge

Client: NIAB Trust