LO42 Avon Street Artist Commission: Adam Blencowe
Artist: Adam Blencowe
Client: GMI Construction Group
Date: 2026
Location: Avon Street, Bristol
A new sculptural intervention for the riverside at Avon Street, Bristol, inspired by its industrial past.
Commissioned for LO42 Avon Street, this project responds to the site’s industrial history as a former riverside foundry in Bristol. For over a century, the Panther Lead and Silver Works occupied the area, producing lead ingots for manufacturing across the city.
Artist Adam Blencowe developed the commission through archival research into the foundry’s operation and material processes, including a 19th-century foundry plan uncovered through research by the Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society. Tracing how materials moved through the building, Blencowe used ideas of process, flow and transformation as a starting point for the work.
The resulting forms reinterpret elements of the foundry’s internal systems, translating histories of movement, labour and production into durable, tactile structures that surface a past no longer visible within the contemporary landscape. Developed through dialogue with specialists in industrial archaeology and metal casting, alongside hands-on experimentation, the project connects historic industrial processes with contemporary fabrication.
Set within a regenerated riverside environment, the work functions both as sculpture and everyday infrastructure, inviting sitting, gathering and pause, while encouraging closer attention to the site’s layered history.
Behind the scenes: The making of Adam Blencowe’s commission
Positioned beside the river, the works are designed as places to gather and spend time, quietly carrying traces of the site’s past into the present.
The artist recently visited the timber yard at Howard Gibbons Reclamation in Exford, where reclaimed Opepe timber — previously used within a railway bridge — was selected for the commission. Each piece is checked for concealed metal fixings before being re-milled to reveal the timber’s vibrant natural colour.
Outside Adam’s workshop at Cutterne Mill, Evercreech, bronze elements referencing foundry processes are being tested and assembled. Components are arranged to check scale and proportion, while an initial test piece has been installed to confirm the mounting and drainage system.
Follow progress on Instagram @adamguyblencowe and @ginkgoprojects.
About the artist
Adam Blencowe is a Somerset-based designer–maker working across public art, furniture, and textiles. He graduated from the Design Products MA at the Royal College of Art in 2015.
His work is shaped by a close reading of materials, process and place. Drawing on archival research and site histories, he develops works that respond to the social and industrial narratives embedded within a location. These ideas are translated into durable, tactile forms that invite everyday use and interaction. Blencowe's approach combines digital design with hands-on making, often reinterpreting traditional techniques through detailed investigation and experimentation. He is particularly interested in adapting existing materials and systems in unexpected ways, creating new applications that sit between craft and industry.
Working across timber, metal, and fibre, his practice frequently involves collaboration with fabricators, designers, and communities.
He has been commissioned by major organisations including the Wellcome Collection, the British Council, and the Barbican Centre, alongside public realm projects across the UK.