If you look up above the Crescent Arcade in Touchwood, you will see a series of relief sculptures on the bulkhead between the Map Room (now known as the Atrium) and John Lewis. The sculpture group consists of 14 panels and was described by Touchwood’s architect, Eric R. Kuhne (1951-2016) in 2000 as “The Solihull Sonnet.”
The frieze links the “canopy of stainless steel beech leaves” above the “knuckle” outside John Lewis to the Map Room knuckle which includes timber lattice maps and a mural depicting market towns in the UK.
In the architect’s capsheet book (5th ed.) held at the Core Library, Solihull, architect Eric Kuhne described his vision for the civic art in the Crescent Arcade as telling “the history of Solihull from its early medieval days as a chartered market town, to the new Elizabethan era of Touchwood and beyond.”
The 14 panels of the sculpture group echo the 14 lines of a sonnet. The architect further noted that the flyover bridge in the arcade splits the sculptures into a group of eight and a group of six – echoing the octet and sestet structure of the classic sonnet or, as the architect described it:
replicating in architectural form the poetic structure of the classic sonnet
Eric R. Kuhne & Associates, Touchwood [architect’s capsheet book], 5th ed. [2000]
The architect went on to say that “each sculpture represents a line from the sonnet, penned in time for
the opening in September 2001.”
We had struggled to find any reference to the written form of the “Solihull Sonnet” and began to wonder whether the poem itself was actually ever created. It took rather longer than it should have done for library staff to become aware that the sonnet – simply called “Touchwood” and written by architect, Eric Kuhne – was hiding in plain sight on the commemorative pillar installed in Library Square (as it was called at the time) to mark the visit of her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2002.
To tie in with the Solihull Sonnet and the visit of Shakespeare’s First Folio to the Core, Solihull on Sunday 2nd July 2023, a new book – the Solihull Sonnets – has been created. The book contains 36 new sonnets, referencing the number of plays in the First Folio, on the theme of Solihull. The poems include content sent in by local writers as well as sonnets created at workshops run by professional writer, Rachel Sambrooks. The limited-edition book was launched at The Core at 12 noon on 2nd July 2023.
As soon as the book is available online, we’ll add in a link here. In the meantime, you can view the original “Solihull Sonnet” in the relief sculptures at Touchwood and in verse on the pillar in Theatre Square.
Tracey
Library Specialist: Heritage & Local Studies
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk
Solihull Life 
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