National recognition for Horsham sculpture

The sculpture was commissioned and paid for by Johnston Press, proprietors of the West Sussex County Times.

It was donated to Horsham and installed in the Carfax in 1994 to mark the 125th anniversary of the County Times.

Horsham’s Cliff Palmer has now photographed the sculpture for inclusion in the national archive. Cliff explained: “I heard about the project through the The Royal Photographic Society, of which I have been a member for a number of years, and hold their Licentiate of The RPS distinction.

“There was a short article in the RPS Journal and a call for volunteer photographers by Art UK.

“As I like sculpture I thought it would make a perfect match with my love of photography. It would also enable me to see sculptures I would otherwise not be aware of as well as giving a purpose to my photography.

“I believe the project is important because I think we need to bring more art, in all its many forms, to as wide a public as possible, and especially to get children and young people involved.

“It has certainly made me look more closely at the many sculptures we have in Horsham town centre and hopefully Mr Pirie will soon be back in place as well.

“Then it’s on to the other parishes within the Horsham District to see what works they have on show.”

The Art UK Sculpture project is being developed by Art UK (formerly the Public Catalogue Foundation), a dynamic arts charity based in London, but with a national and global reach.

Its mission is to transform access to the UK’s publicly owned art - much of which it says is not on display - for enjoyment, learning and research. Its priorities lie in mapping art collections, encouraging public engagement with them and improving our knowledge of these collections.

A spokesman explained: “Art UK Sculpture will transform access to sculpture by digitising the UK’s sculpture heritage in public ownership, supporting custodians to update or create full records about their sculpture, and enabling people to participate in this process, to learn about and engage with sculpture in their communities.”

More at www.artuk.org/