Local businesses across the north of Scotland have been picking the designs they’d like to see featured in Clan Cancer Support’s public art trail this summer.
More than 20 sponsors attended an art selection event for The BookBench Trail at Clan House in Aberdeen this week (Thursday, February 6) to help choose the 42 BookBench sculptures to go on public display from July to September this year.
The exhibition featured 70 shortlisted submissions from local and national artists with designs drawing inspirations from Scottish folklore and legends, Scotland’s maritime heritage and scenes of nature and local landscapes.
As well as seeing the designs, sponsors were given information about the artists’ motivation and inspiration for their submissions with Aberdeen-based artist Fiona Chance, the project’s art consultant, on hand to answer any questions.
Fiona Fernie, Clan’s CEO; Johanna Basford and Charlie Langhorne, Wild in Art’s Co-founder and Managing Director
Fiona Fernie, Clan’s chief executive officer, said: “Following a huge response to our call for artists, our art selection event allowed sponsors the opportunity to consider which sculpture and artist they’d like to be aligned with throughout the trail.
“We’re thrilled the businesses attending the event had such a rich variety of designs to choose from, allowing them to select artwork which supports their company values and ethos.
“This is a very exciting stage of the project as we begin to see how the trail will look for the public and we’d like to thank all of our sponsors for their support so far and each of the artists who took the time to submit an entry for consideration.”
The BookBench Trail is supported by headline sponsors Bilfinger and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. A further 25 companies from across the North-east, Moray, Orkney and Shetland have sponsored 1.4m BookBench sculpture to be displayed on the trail.
Sponsors attending last night’s event were also given a preview of the trail’s first completed sculpture ‘Wonderful Wildflowers’ by Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford who volunteered to create a design for the project.
The sculpture features Johanna’s distinctive hand drawn motifs in her signature black and white palette with shimmering gold highlights and hidden beasties which Johanna hopes people will enjoy discovering during the trail.
Johanna said: “I was delighted to create some inky artwork for The BookBench Trail! As an illustrator it’s always fun to draw on new and interesting objects, so this was a fantastic challenge.”
Johanna Basford
Clan Cancer Support will deliver The BookBench Trail in partnership with Wild in Art. Since 2008 Wild in Art has animated cities across the world, including Manchester, Auckland, Sydney, Cape Town and São Paulo and worked with partners to create trails across Scotland including the Clyde mascot trail for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Wild Dolphins in Aberdeen, Oor Wullie’s BIG Bucket Trail, and more recently The Big Hop Trail in the North-east of Scotland.
Fiona added: “The trail lets us demonstrate our commitment to the communities we serve across the North-east, Moray, Shetland and Orkney and raises awareness of the important role Clan plays in people’s lives before, during and after a cancer diagnosis.
“Trail goers might not need us now, but we hope projects like The BookBench Trail highlight the critical support Clan provides should people ever require our services.
“We are extremely grateful for the support from our sponsors, many of whom previously supported our previous trail, demonstrating the connection local businesses have with their local communities and Clan.”
The art selection process for The BookBench Trail is due to be finalised in the coming weeks with successful artists commissioned to work on their sculpture in March. Following the completion of the trail, each of the sculptures will be sold at auction to raise money for Clan Cancer Support.
A very limited number of sponsorship opportunities are still currently available for businesses looking to support The BookBench Trail. For more information, please contact bookbenches@clancancersupport.org