Guildford Design Awards 2023

Short List Public Arts

Ceramic Mural, Jeffries Passage, Guildford

Client: Abbott’s Hospital

Artists: Aluna Ceramics -
Carlos Espana and Liliana Montoya

This Artwork was commissioned by Abbot's Hospital in Guildford to celebrate the 400th

Anniversary of the founding of Abbot's Hospital by George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury.

It is formed of four ceramic panels made up of a total of just over 700 handmade, hand modelled and hand painted tiles that commemorate George Abbot and the life in the Alms House, which he endowed four centuries ago.

The design of the panels was inspired and informed by Abbot's Hospital’s history, its original furniture and architectural features. The meticulous fine art painting, decorative motifs and colourful ceramic pigments used are the result of several months of research carried out by the artists.

Each panel depicts 100 years of history in dream-like scenes of the Grade I Listed building’s lifetime..

On a compositional level, the four panels share the same structural pattern, consisting of the use of Fibonacci’s spiral, as the internal framework that holds and guides the eye through the imagery. The main feature in each panel is at the centre of this golden spiral. These features are the portrait of George Abbot, back and front views of Abbot’s Hospital through the ages and a side view of Abbot’s Hospital and the High Street in modern times.

Habitat Project, University of Surrey

Client: Surrey Hills Arts

Artists: This project involved 4 artists: Russell Jakubowski, Amy Haigh, Will Nash, Livia Spinolo

HABITAT – Community eco space was an experimental pilot project aiming to address

our biodiversity crisis through art. A built-up space at the University of Surrey was

chosen and four selected artists developed new inhabitable sculptures with guidance

from Surrey Wildlife Trust.

Livia Spinolo’s artwork ‘Vertical Undergrowth’ is a tower of repurposed concrete slabs planted with natural elements such as soil, moss, and native plants. Situated in a shady location, it will attract invertebrates and will provide ledges for birds.

‘Benjes Ark’ by Russell Jakubowski provides a hiding place and a micro-climate. He has created two brightly coloured ‘arks’. Their densely packed enclosures also act as a refuge for reptiles such as toads, lizards and hedgehogs.

Artist Amy Haigh created a ‘Reconfigured Cycle Rack’. She cut a disused cycle rack into 600 pieces and reassembled it to create a dome structure with a log pile at its centre. Focused on slow worms and stag beetles as protected species present in the area. Decaying logs are fundamental for stag beetles as a food source and by planting them deep in the ground, the beetle larvae are able to migrate between the soil and wood.

‘HexB’ by Will Nash utilises his fascination with natural geometry and sequences to

develop new sculptural ideas for solitary bee architecture using 3D printing, silicone

moulding, and cast Jesmonite.

This built up area on campus was also replanted with meadow grass to further attract wildlife and is being monitored by the University’s ecology students.

Over 400 people from the local community engaged in practical creative workshops with the artists making their own mini habitat sculptures.

‘Host’ Mural, Pedestrian Underpass, Guildford Railway Station, Guildford

Client: partnership formed of: Network Rail, Cross Country Trains, Great Western Railway, Southeast Communities Rail Partnership, South Western Railway, The Community Rail Network, The Arts Society, The Arts Society Guildford and Guildford Arts.

Artist and printmaker: Julie Hoyle

This new public art installation with two 5 metre long murals, runs in the subway under the platforms at Guildford Railway Station. The digital collage on aluminium references places, people and events of the town, past and present, celebrating its unique heritage, successful industry and diverse culture. Host was commissioned and funded by the partnership noted above.

Realising early on that the installation will always be viewed on the move in passing, the artist’s aim for the composition was to lead viewers from one reference to another from both directions. The aim is to continue a rhythm from the trains and to make some of the references discoverable over time; the idea of the more you look the more you see each time you pass appealed.

References in the artworks include:
Guildford Cathedral, Surrey University Arboretum, The Duke of Kent Building, The Golden Angel, Physical Energy – George Watts, The River Wey, St Mary’s Church, The Lido, G Live, Golden Sand, Golden Flowers, The Crypt, Guildford Clock, Tunsgate Arches, Surrey Space Center, Lewis Carroll, Early Royal presence, Guildford Castle, John Russell, Alan Turing, Flavia Cacace, The Guildford Dragon, The Friary, The Spectrum, Guildford Flames, Guildford Phoenix, Yvonne Arnaud, The Dennis Brothers, Guildford Bridge, Pewley Downs, Semaphore House, The Guildford Mint, George Abbot, Surrey Hills, the video gaming history in Guildford and the railway itself.