Sculptor picked to create statue of Rhodri Morgan outside the Senedd

Martin Shipton

A sculptor who has produced works depicting famous people like the Beatles and Alex Ferguson has been chosen to create the statue of Rhodri Morgan that will be erected near the Senedd in Cardiff Bay.

Andy Edwards, who has worked in the Castle foundry at Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant in Powys since 2001, was selected from a shortlist of three by members of the Rhodri Morgan Statue Fund (RMSF), which began raising money for the project two years after the former First Minister’s death in 2017.

‘Honoured’

Edwards, who sculpts his clay in a studio space and then finishes his bronze statues in the casting and metalworking workshops, said: “I am hugely excited and honoured to have been chosen to work with RMSF to create this tribute to Rhodri’s life and work: a monument happiest to be among the people he was always very much a part and for whom he cared so deeply.

“The statue will be unique and I feel sure that when it takes its place it will come to be as loved as a symbol and reminder, as Rhodri was in life.”

Leading RMSF ambassador Jane Hutt MS, said: :“The RMSF fundraising team is delighted that Andy Edwards has agreed to work with us on this prestigious project. Rhodri was a founding father of devolution and a giant in Welsh politics, and with an internationally recognised sculptor commissioned to create the statue, we can expect a work of public art of the highest quality alongside the Senedd.

“The sculpture will be an educational resource on Welsh history and governance as well as a reminder of the values for which Rhodri stood. Fundraising continues and I thank all those who are supporting this important Appeal.”

‘Exceptional sculptor’

A spokesperson for the artistic consultancy Studio Response said: “We were asked by the trustees to develop a Brief to Artist and to facilitate the commissioning of an exceptional sculptor to take forward the creation of a fitting public statue of Rhodri Morgan.

“We were delighted and honoured to have been chosen to be involved in such a prestigious project for Wales. The selection process for the commission was an engaging one – seeing how sculptors responded to the brief and brought new insights and ways of representing the figurative as well as conveying the narrative of Rhodri Morgan’s life.

“ We very much look forward to seeing Andy Edwards’ concept come to fruition in the forthcoming months.”

Rhodri Morgan was First Minister of Wales from 2000 to 2009. He stepped down from the Senedd in March 2011.

‘Founding father’

In an obituary to Rhodri in May 2017, David Williamson, then the political editor of the Western Mail said: “His status as a founding father of devolution is assured.”

Both the Llywydd (Presiding Officer of the Senedd) Elin Jones, and the Conservative leader of the opposition in the Senedd Andrew RT Davies described him as a ‘giant’ of Welsh politics.

Andy Edwards was born in 1964. He designs and sculpts large scale monumental public art and has created more than 50 bronze statues, including “The Bee Gees” strutting Stayin’ Alive along the promenade in Douglas, Isle of Man and Lemmy, unveiled in Burslem in May 2025.

Edwards’ storytelling includes the soldiers’ invitation to a handshake over a football in “Truce”, a memorial to the WWI British and German soldiers’ football game, Christmas 1914, at Messines, Flanders, Belgium; “The Beatles” walking through their home city on the UNESCO World Heritage Liverpool Waterfront; Frederick Douglass, father of the Civil Rights Movement, in the University of Maryland, USA; Bob Marley, in Jamaica Street, Liverpool; Queen Elizabeth II in the Queens Gardens, Newcastle under Lyme; Sir Alex Ferguson in Aberdeen; Pelé in Rio de Janeiro; and Muhammad Ali, commemorating the rematch with Sonny Liston in 1965, at one time in Qatar, now in Liverpool.

Welsh ancestry

While growing up, Andy’s dad would proudly tell him of his family’s Welsh ancestry, an Edwards marrying an Edwards, but in recent years he learned that his great grandparents on his mother’s side came from the coalfields of Cefn Mawr, Wrexham, to work at the Wolstanton pit in Staffordshire, taking the train from Ruabon, amazingly just a few short miles from the Castle foundry.

He said: “No wonder it has felt like another home throughout my career”.

The commission comes at the end of a design competition launched in 2024 in which 12 established sculptors expressed interest. In January 2025 these were shortlisted to three, who met the members of the commissioning panel on-site in February 2025 and in May made presentations to the panel, who were advised and supported throughout the competition by Studio Response of Cardiff, public art consultants.

The sculpture will be installed in front of the Pierhead in Cardiff Bay in July 2026. It will be an “outdoor classroom” with a QR code linked to website information on Rhodri Morgan’s values, his critical role in devolution in the context of the history of Welsh governance and the struggle for a Parliament for Wales.

The freehold of the land is owned by Associated British Ports and leased to the Senedd Commission. Both are supporting the project and are working with Statue Fund trustees to meet the installation deadline.

There have been discussions with the local planning authority, Cardiff council. The council has agreed to take ownership of the sculpture and maintain it from installation, waiving the normal charges.