Ribble Rediscovered

Richard Dawson (Arbarus) and I have been lucky enough to win a commission to create some public art for the RSPB Ribble Reserve in Lytham St. Annes. Ribble Discovery Centre is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary this year and has commissioned five artists to create permanent art for the area surrounding the centre and Fairhaven Lake, which is sited next to the estuary.

The Ribble Estuary is the most important single river estuary in the UK and attracts over 270,00 birds each year, with some notable species being the Wigeon, the Dunlin and the Pink-Footed Goose.

Richard and I are going to create one feature piece of art and several smaller pieces that form part of a trail around Fairhaven Lake.  These will all be in the format of a steel wing with cut-out elements providing information and silhouetted shapes.  These will be decided in consultation with the public, RSPB volunteers and the Centre’s steering group at a number of workshops.

I’ll have some more photos from the first of our workshops (which is today) but in the meantime, here’s a view of the estuary, with my dog doing a spot of photo-bombing and Richard taking a proper photo on the left!

Our next workshop will be on Saturday 24th August at the Ribble Festival between 11am and 4pm.  All the artists will be there to meet and discuss the proposed artwork.