Short Story
Restoring habitats, views and wellbeing through the arts.
Inspiring Views will open up an overgrown viewpoint on the North Downs Way National Trail at Albury. We will work with groups who do not usually access the countryside and install an interactive sculptural seat.
‘Inspiring Views’ in the Surrey Hills
£8,000.00
Funding Goal-
£8,000.00
Funds Raised -
0
Days to go -
Target Goal
Campaign End Method
Everybody who makes a donation will receive a Reward - please see Rewards list below. You will be given the option to make an anonymous donation before submitting your payment. By making a donation on this page you are agreeing to our Terms & Conditions.
INSPIRING VIEWS CAMPAIGN
The Inspiring Views project restores hidden viewpoints across the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), improving access and celebrating these views through innovative, sculptural seating.
On the Albury Estate, near Newlands Corner we will reveal the outstanding iconic view from the North Downs Way across the Weald to the South Downs, improve public access and engage visitors in the immediate surroundings and its conservation. We aim to celebrate this work with an artwork inspired by the view by selected artist Will Nash. Will’s sculptural seating will be beautifully crafted, innovative in design and playfully interactive. As well as drawing people into the countryside, it will provide a pause on a journey for peaceful reflection and appreciation of the surroundings.
Will Nash is an artist with a fascination for geometry and patterns in nature. Examining the faceted structure of an insect’s eye, Will has developed a piece called ‘Optohedron’. This arrangement of 5 identical cells creates a rising curved sequence. If you were to continue with the sequence adding another 15 cells the structure would complete into a sphere, so the sculpture is a fragment of a missing whole. This links to the mysterious Golden Ratio geometry which continues to fascinate artists and scientists today. The name Optohedron is derived from the ancient Greek: optikós, “of seeing” and hédra “raised seat”
‘The Optohedron sculpture is inspired by the act of viewing, thinking about seeing as the fundamental interface between the person and the world. Whilst exploring this idea, I investigated optics, the science of light, which took me to an ancient instrument, the Kaleidoscope.’ Will Nash
The Optohedron will be constructed from Weathering Steel which forms a protective layer of rust on its surface under the influence of the weather. The individual cells will be packed with locally sourced unprocessed timber to create a solid seat. Concealed within the packed timber there will be three spherical Kaleidoscopes, each one will be orientated to view a different element of the place, one up at the branches against the sky, one across looking through the scrub, and one down toward the earth. The three views will, of course change with the seasons and, in a way correspond with a sort of ‘zooming’ in or out from close up to far away.
Alongside Will’s artwork, an inspirational learning programme will engage communities through talks, walks, conservation and creative activities. Young people will make their own kaleidoscopes and create experimental photography of the landscape and natural surroundings as they explore. Guided outings with groups will explore the therapeutic effects of art and nature. Local people will also be involved with clearance and planting at the site specifically to allow the insect and butterfly populations to flourish.
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Find out more about previous Inspiring Views Projects
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We wish to thank each and every one of our backers for their generous contribution.
| Name | Donation | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Anonymous | £325.00 | October 30, 2019 |
| Tony Earnshaw | £25.00 | October 28, 2019 |
| Pamela Laing | £45.00 | October 26, 2019 |
| Laura Catchpole | £35.00 | October 25, 2019 |
| Albury Estates | £1,000.00 | October 25, 2019 |
| Tom Wanless | £200.00 | October 25, 2019 |
| Catherine Rowlands | £50.00 | October 20, 2019 |
| Alex Poulter | £20.00 | October 18, 2019 |
| North Downs Way National Trail | £2,000.00 | October 09, 2019 |
| Anonymous | £10.00 | October 08, 2019 |
| Martina Watson | £35.00 | October 08, 2019 |
| Lesley Hounslow | £50.00 | September 19, 2019 |
| Peter Slade | £25.00 | September 09, 2019 |
| Kathleen Churchley | £10.00 | September 09, 2019 |
| Anonymous | £25.00 | September 05, 2019 |
| Sue Beckwith | £35.00 | August 28, 2019 |
| Anonymous | £1,000.00 | August 21, 2019 |
| Vikki Leedham | £35.00 | August 20, 2019 |
| Martin Cantor | £50.00 | August 07, 2019 |
| Stephanie Wright | £5.00 | August 01, 2019 |
| Perdita Hunt | £25.00 | July 31, 2019 |
| Andrew Rubio | £100.00 | July 30, 2019 |
| Robert Watson | £5.00 | July 30, 2019 |
| Vicky Oldfield | £5.00 | July 30, 2019 |
| Christine Hopkins | £10.00 | July 30, 2019 |
| Rob Fairbanks | £25.00 | July 29, 2019 |
| Anonymous | £10.00 | July 27, 2019 |
| June Robinson | £20.00 | July 25, 2019 |
| Susan Dragon | £10.00 | July 24, 2019 |
| Anonymous | £1,500.00 | July 22, 2019 |
| Anonymous | £1,000.00 | July 20, 2019 |
| Ann Johnstone | £20.00 | July 20, 2019 |
| Sheila Nockold | £100.00 | July 20, 2019 |
| Luna Russell | £35.00 | July 19, 2019 |
| Roy Hogben | £25.00 | July 16, 2019 |
| Karl Newman | £10.00 | July 01, 2019 |
| Alistair Burtenshaw | £10.00 | July 01, 2019 |
| Gary Scholes | £5.00 | June 27, 2019 |
| Gordon Jackson | £100.00 | June 26, 2019 |
| Ali Clarke | £5.00 | June 26, 2019 |
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