DORMOUSE
Commissioned by Test Valley Borough Council (2023)
Picket Piece, Andover, Hampshire
Picket Piece, Andover, Hampshire
Test Valley Borough Council commissioned a new sculptural public artwork for Picket Piece, Andover. Every aspect of it was designed together with the local community, resulting in a truly collaborative co-creation. A series of workshops with school pupils, local groups and the public have dictated the artwork shape, colour and detail, as well as the location.
The first stage of community engagement consisted of nature-themed creative activities with the Toddler and Baby Group, Vigo Primary School, Winton Academy, the Health Walk group and a public workshop at the Village Hall. The aim of these sessions was to create small sculptures (and sculptural seed bombs!) to inspire the shape of the public artwork and to find some potential sites for it.
Following this, there was an online campaign to allow everyone to vote for a sculpture shape from a shortlist of those created the first round of workshops. The winner was the dormouse! This little animal is the subject of a number of conservation projects in the area, you can spot dormouse detection tubes, dormouse boxes and a dormouse bridge (!) in Picket Piece. Hazel hedgerows are what has given rise to the dormouse community, and these are now as protected in the area, as the animal itself. The dormouse has therefore helped to shape the local landscape so it seems fitting that it has been chosen by the community to represent their area.
A second round of workshops involved almost 400 local school pupils in co-designing the artwork colours and surface details. As a result, the sculpture is embellished with children’s drawings representing themes of community, friendship, love, nature and landscape.
There are maps of the Picket Piece area from 1897, 1958 and 2022 engraved onto the dormouse’s side, documenting the changing land use.
The artwork is made up of many triangles relating to the fact that, historically, a ‘picket’ was used to describe a triangular piece of land and this is what has given Picket Piece its name.
The first stage of community engagement consisted of nature-themed creative activities with the Toddler and Baby Group, Vigo Primary School, Winton Academy, the Health Walk group and a public workshop at the Village Hall. The aim of these sessions was to create small sculptures (and sculptural seed bombs!) to inspire the shape of the public artwork and to find some potential sites for it.
Following this, there was an online campaign to allow everyone to vote for a sculpture shape from a shortlist of those created the first round of workshops. The winner was the dormouse! This little animal is the subject of a number of conservation projects in the area, you can spot dormouse detection tubes, dormouse boxes and a dormouse bridge (!) in Picket Piece. Hazel hedgerows are what has given rise to the dormouse community, and these are now as protected in the area, as the animal itself. The dormouse has therefore helped to shape the local landscape so it seems fitting that it has been chosen by the community to represent their area.
A second round of workshops involved almost 400 local school pupils in co-designing the artwork colours and surface details. As a result, the sculpture is embellished with children’s drawings representing themes of community, friendship, love, nature and landscape.
There are maps of the Picket Piece area from 1897, 1958 and 2022 engraved onto the dormouse’s side, documenting the changing land use.
The artwork is made up of many triangles relating to the fact that, historically, a ‘picket’ was used to describe a triangular piece of land and this is what has given Picket Piece its name.