The Gilded Elm, (2023) has been shortlisted for the 2024 PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture. The winner will be announced at the ceremony on the 17th October 2024.
In 2021 I was invited to develop a creative response to an elm tree that was felled because of elm disease. One of two twin elms in Brighton’s Preston Park, they are known, and highly loved locally, as the Preston Twins - and are also probably two of the oldest English elms in the world. I embarked on a two-year odyssey, fundraising, developing, conserving, fabricating and finally relocating the Gilded Elm to its original place next to its twin. I approached this as aiming to preserve as much of the original trunk as possible, while also using my established practice of using gilding to, amongst other things, highlight the various values associated with the objects I make. In this case, I wanted to reflect the huge local pride and civic responsibility of hosting these major arboreal assets in Brighton.
The old trunk has been preserved with oils and resins, leaving the beetle trails in the wood as evidence of the disease. Due to limited funding, I gilded the interior with Dutch metal, an alternative to gold leaf. I commissioned Jon Mills, a local artist to make a framework that closes a gap in the trunk, also based upon the beetle trails.
In addition to public funding from the National Lottery though Arts Council England and Brighton and Hove City Council, many businesses and individuals helped with the project, many giving their time and resources for free. Please visit www.elpidahv.art to see them all.
Instagram: @elpidahadzivasileva
Негізгі бет The Gilded Elm (2023) by Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
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