Head up Sea Road in Boscombe and, a little beyond St John's Road, you reach Optic, one of the stranger works on the Boscombe Arts Trail. A large marble sphere sits behind the bars of a park bench, looking for all the world like a giant glass eye gazing out over the pavement: a quiet and faintly surreal moment on the route between the seafront and the town.
The Boscombe Arts Trail
Optic belongs to a set of seven sculptures commissioned in 2010 from Andy Kirkby, a Dorset sculptor selected by a panel of arts professionals, ward councillors and local residents as part of the regeneration of Boscombe's seafront. All the pieces share a marine theme, drawn from conversations with people living locally and from the area's history and environment, as well as the underwater stories of Jules Verne. They also share materials, bronze, copper and cast iron, and a gilded rope motif that recurs from one to the next. Other trail works still in place include Murano, a glass dome in the Venetian style near Boscombe Pier, and the sunfish-inspired sculpture whose plaque names it Chemical Wedding.
Visiting
Standing in the open on Sea Road, Optic can be viewed whenever you like and costs nothing. It is a natural pause on a walk between Chemical Wedding and Murano, which lies further down towards the pier. For more of the area's outdoor art and seafront walks, see our guide to things to do in Bournemouth.
