As a multidisciplinary artist, working to open conversations and raise awareness of stories in our natural environment I am thrilled to be involved in working with the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and the Worcester Plinth to highlight one of my favourite birds, the swifts.  Practicing Reparative Land Art and echoing the Arte Povera Art Movement by utilising natural and salvaged materials wherever possible, simple construction techniques are being used to build and make willow sculptures of swifts.  Willow wands have been salvaged and harvested, using goat willow saved from a firewood fate and Flanders Red Dicky Meadows and Black Maul willows.   Natural twines of jute and hemp have been incorporated to help secure the weaves against the wind.

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The installation is designed to be set against a natural canvas backdrop, which acts as a buffer to the wind and will capture the shadows of the sculptures at different points of the day and night.    

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Flowers, foliage and seed heads are also represented in willow, designed and made with the help of Sarah Maggie Jones, and Fine Art and Psychology Students Sarah Thorp and Abigail Green from the University of Worcester.

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Solar lights, will come to life as darkness falls, charge by the sun and flickering between the foliage at night, representing the insect life, the essential food source for our swifts.

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After their time on The Plinth, the swifts sculptures will move to sites around Worcester.  Communities will be invited to help pack cut wildflower meadow grass between the woven willows at the end of the summer. The sculptures will gradually be reclaimed into the earth and wildflowers will grow, providing new habitat and food sources for the insects, which can feed the returning swifts.