Alice Walker from Oxfordshire and Claire Cornish from Cumbria have been crowned the winners of the Floodplain Meadow arts and crafts competition. The winning pieces of art demonstrated the diverse role of floodplain meadows for biodiversity, flood water management, agriculture, and the importance of their preservation.
Funded by the Morgan Family Bursary Fund and the William Dean Countryside and Educational Trust, the Floodplain Meadows Arts and Crafts Competition 2021 invited all types of artists and crafters to help raise awareness of floodplain meadows and how they can be part of a package of natural climate solutions.
It took the judges several hours to deliberate over more than 100 entries from across the UK and internationally. All the judges agreed that the imagination and creativity shown by all those who entered was outstanding. Creative approaches to the brief set by the competition ranged from soundscapes to embroidery, poetry to botanical illustrations with entries coming in from as far as Russia and Bangladesh.
Shortlisted entries to the competition were featured in an exclusive online art exhibition, with plans underway for a physical exhibition next summer. Ten other finalists along with Alice and Clare will also have their artwork included in a calendar for 2022, available from November. Claire and Alice will each also receive a prize of either a Field Studies Council voucher worth £250 or a hamper of floodplain meadow produce provided by Andy Rumming’s Beef.
The Floodplain Meadow Partnership will be exhibiting at COP26 in November where they will be calling on governments and world leaders to recognise the importance and preserve these diminishing grasslands.
The Partnership is pushing for a substantial expansion of floodplain meadow restoration supported through strategic targets set through the Nature Recovery Network and the Environmental Land Management scheme recognising floodplains as a particular land type.
On coming to a decision on the top two winners, Chair of the judging panel Olivia Nelson said:
“We were amazed at how this competition captured people’s imagination. More than 97% of meadows have been lost in the last 100 years resulting in huge biodiversity decline, yet their productivity, diversity of species and position in the landscape make them a ready-made nature-based solution for both the climate change and biodiversity crises.
Floodplain meadows support resilient productivity, rich biodiversity, flood protection and carbon sequestration and our artists have picked up on these messages through their work. The competition aim was to raise awareness of floodplain meadows and instigate a call to action for Government to protect them and recognise the role they play as part of a package of natural climate solutions for land in floodplains. Our winners have hit the nail on the head.”
Alice’s piece ‘A precious resource’ portrays the delicate balance that floodplains face and depicts a destructive future if they aren’t urgently protected. Using a variety of materials, techniques, and an imaginative juxtaposition, she demonstrates the rich biodiversity, and agricultural use and highlighted how time is running out for this unique habitat.
Claire’s piece ‘Seasons Song’ is an intricate piece of stained-glass art with designs representing the many grasses and flowers found on in floodplain meadows, and importantly the sustainable cycle of floods, silts and drought that enables meadows to flourish there. Her cyclical artwork is drawn together with the powerful words “Cherish the winter floods, that nourish our summer hay.”
Speaking at the Floodplain Meadow Partnership conference Alice said,
“I’m an artist and teacher based in Oxfordshire. I work in oils, watercolours, collage, pencil and print and digital media. I have always had a deep love of being in nature and responding to it creatively.
Last July I was fortunate enough to take my art students out sketching in Long Mead Meadow on the banks of the Thames, just West of Oxford.
A Precious Resource
It was there that I discovered the amazing story of Britain’s floodplain meadows: how they were once the most valuable land in Britain, allowing villagers to overwinter their livestock providing both grazing and a hay crop because of their fertility. I also learned of their importance today as a valuable source of hay, a carbon store and vital habitat for a multitude of species.
I was shocked to find out that barely 3% of these meadows remain in Britain – but inspired by restoration projects like the Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project that are bolding working to improve this for future generations.
When I heard about the FMP Art Competition, I was excited about the potential of art to respond to the challenge of raising awareness of these amazing habitats.
On one level my task was easy -as these meadows are naturally stunning -and art that communicates the beauty and wonder of the natural world draws our attention to it, brings us joy and reminds us how much we value it and that we should protect it.
But more than that it was important to me to amplify the message that these vital floodplain meadows are still under threat; from agricultural practices, housing and road developments and even flood defence measures.”
Claire commented,
Seasons Song
“I’m so delighted to have been selected for the floodplain meadows calendar and as an overall winner. I thought the competition was imaginative and very open ended – really anyone could send in something they had made or written – it had a very broad scope. It’s so lovely to be chosen based on ‘Seasons Song’. I wanted to share something of how I feel about floodplain meadows, their annual changing cycle and specialness.
I love meadows and working in them with farmers and botanists. Sometimes when we are out in the field, we just stop what we are doing and take in the space. Often all we can hear is a quiet buzzing of insects and the sound of a far-off curlew or oyster catcher. It’s magical.”
