April Key lights up Holmfirth with ‘Enduring Neon’ – Interview

Transformed unit in Holmfirth. Image Credit: Make It Your Holmfirth on Facebook.

Artist and neon sculptor April Key has brought a new glow to Holmfirth with Enduring Neon: Pennines Edition, a year-long public art project illuminating one of the town’s oldest retail units. Installed in the heart of the Holme Valley, the evolving series of light works reimagines rural heritage through colour, form and quiet spectacle. April spoke to TSOTA about beauty, community, and why bringing neon out of the city feels both radical and restorative.

After previously serving as a butcher’s and a cobbler’s, one of  Holmfirth’s oldest retail units has a new lease of life as the home of a series of light art pieces. April has worked with neon glass in sculpting for six years now, and with this new installation sought to bring her work out of urban landscapes into the heart of a countryside community. “I’ve worked with public installation for a few years, but that’s always been in cities,” April says. “I wanted to take that and put it into a rural context to see the response… and bring a bit of light and colour into everyday places.”

‘Northern Lights’ display. Image Credit: April Key.

‘Enduring Neon’ will span all 12 months of this year, with a new piece installed each month, reflecting a selected aspect of local heritage, history or landscape. The current and second piece is ‘Northern Lights’, featuring a pair of swirling light sculptures sitting upon two frames. Bright shades of pink, purple, green and blue flow through these structures, inspired by the recent sightings of the northern lights in the local area. “There was a lot of chit-chatter about the northern lights being visible at the top of the Pennine hills over the winter,” she explains. “When I looked at pictures of the northern lights it seemed to me like a very long, organic, fluid light form, and I started thinking about how I could transfer that into a straight tube.”

Of course, such unique and attractive sculptures need an equally unique display. The unit’s large window allows passersby to take in the beauty inside of it all day, every day, completely for free, giving public art a whole new frontier. “I really like the fact that this is such a visible space,” April says. “It’s literally just a tiny unit with a big window, which means it is something people can see every day. Having that easy access also makes it a point of conversation for people to discuss whatever’s going on in that window.”

April Key glass blowing. Image Credit: April Key.

While these sculptures are inspired by aspects of the local area, April notes that nowadays local communities tend to have more “doom and gloom” about them, due to how easily we can all access political and social conflicts via the internet. This led April to creating works that seek to awe rather than linger on social or political happenings. “I feel like we’ve lost the beauty out of art,” April explains, “and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with creating art for the sake of it being beautiful and making us feel better by being around it.” She continues, “I’m not creating stuff because I’m trying to ignore what’s going on. It’s more that I feel like creating something positive is beneficial.”

“One woman wrote to me saying she passes the unit with her daughter all the time, and they often stop to look and discuss it. She told me it really means a lot to her, and it’s things like that which make me realise my art is really making a difference!”

The exhibit has drawn enthusiastic support at every stage so far, with locals stopping April every few minutes during the installation period, eager to know what would soon occupy the long-barren space. “I could barely get anything done!” she laughs, but the delight is evident in her voice.

UNIT. Image Credit: David Lindsay.

Thus far, the project is entirely self-funded, with a donation page available where the public generously provides small amounts to keep the lights on. “It’s not easy doing this and it is a financial strain to continue, which is why I’ve set up stuff like the donation page to help with things like simply paying the electricity bill.” Despite these financial challenges, the project has lots more exciting installations upcoming, with some of the displays tying in with local community events, like an LGBTQ+ theme in July to celebrate Pride. 

A quiet anticipation surrounds the journey the space will undertake over the coming months, both within the Holme Valley and beyond. Whatever themes shape the remaining sculptures, they will undoubtedly continue to cast light and inspire a sense of wonder in this small corner of the English countryside.

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If you would like to see more information on the project, you can follow April’s Instagram. Furthermore, if you would like to donate something to aid the exhibition, you can find the donation page here.