Four Shores

Ros Barber, Simon Barker, Abbe Leigh Fletcher & Steve Turner.

Commissioned by Medway Swale Estuary Partnership

A project designed to enhance residents’ and visitors’ perception of the Isle of Sheppey has been shortlisted for one of the most prestigious art prizes in the country.

'Four Shores' is a celebration of the island's landscape and landmarks and has been shortlisted by the judges of the Rouse Kent Public Art Award as one of the best pieces of public art created in the county in the last year.

The Rouse Kent Public Art Award is given annually by Liberty Property Trust UK, the developer of the Kings Hill business park, (formerly Rouse Kent Ltd); Kent County Council and Arts Council England, South East and is for artwork to which the public has access and which leaves a positive legacy.

The prize money for the main award totals £15,000 and will be divided between the commissioner of the winning work and the artist.  The winning commissioner will also keep the Rouse Chair for a year.

The winner will be announced at a VIP dinner at the Kings Hill Golf Club in May.

'Four Shores' was commissioned by the Medway Swale Estuary Partnership, which instructed an artistic team, led by Steve Turner and including a poet, architect and film maker, to highlight the distinctive features of the area.

Steve Turner created a series of artworks in the Swale Nature Reserve, Shellness - including Razorform and five Shellcretes made from a mix of white cement and shells and a series of marked, polished concrete objects along the foreshore from Minster to Warden Point.

Film maker Abbe Leigh Fletcher documented the entire project with footage incorporating interviews with local people, Ros Barber wrote a series of poems and Simon Barker compiled four image charts, 'Colours of Sheppey', framed prints of which have been donated to public spaces, such as libraries and health centres, for the community to enjoy.

Internationally renown art critic Richard Cork chaired the award's judging panel. Other members of the judging panel were Professor Elaine Thomas, Rector University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester; Kent design champion Piers Gough; Janet Hodgson, artist and a prize winner of the award in 2005; Stephanie Fuller, South East Visual Arts Officer (Public Art & Architecture), Arts Council England, South East; Jo Richards, Marketing & Corporate Manager, Hillreed Homes and Vivien Taylor, Associate Director, architect, Liberty Property Trust UK.