Rebecca Lockyear’s vision of Sidmouth’s trees
Picture by Tara Greifenberg
We would love it if you could come to Sidmouth this week to see the fantastic new billboard design created by local artist Rebecca Lockyear celebrating the town’s Civic Arboretum, the first such arboretum in the country. As part of our charitable remit to promote public engagement with the local trees, we teamed up with Rebecca to produce an artwork celebrating some of our special trees.
The design features 14 iconic trees plus a community orchard in a capriccio style painting. The arboretum has created an online map so that you can walk an easy access route, through the town to discover the trees for yourself. Each tree has a marker on the map with additional information and photographs. A truly unique and interactive artwork.
It is also available to buy in the form of a tea towel, or should that be Tree Towel, for £10 at the Tourist Information Centre next to the Ham Wall Art Space. The proceeds from the tea towel go towards succession planting for the arboretum. A lot of our trees were planted over 150 years ago by the Victorians who favoured our valley for its micro-climate and protective hillsides.
Sidmouth proved an ideal site to nurture the rare and exotic plant specimens bought from all over the world by the Victorian plant hunters employed by nurseries such as the one run by the Veitch family which had its origins in nearby Exter. This unique plant heritage makes our arboretum a hidden gem that is well worth visiting.
The poster version fills the Ham Wall Space which is co-ordinated by Sidmouth School of Art, a Community Interest Company that uses art and creativity to engage, explore and educate through a constellation of cultural activities.
We hope this exhibition will encourage more people to visit our rich variety of trees, learn their iconic heritage and love them as much as we do.
We have had generous grants in the past for our tree planting and tree trail leaflets available free from Visit Sidmouth, but this project is not eligible. We do have some money from the sale of the Tree Towel at our recent Meet The Trees days, and we hope to sell cards and prints of the image, but we need to raise another one thousand pounds to extend the project, so we are coming to you our followers and supports and asking if you can make a small donation through a Crowdfunder appeal which can be accessed HERE.
