In this guest blog by Sally Ferguson (ARC Member and part-time MA fine Art student at UCA) Sally explains how her recent sculpture was inspired by a wildlife encounter

A 1.8m stuffed cloth artwork depicting this important rare lizard on RSPB Farnham Heath can be seen as part of a Heathlands Artworks Trail until 31st October 2024.

My husband Robert and I, who are both ARC Members, saw the sand lizard depicted in this area when on an exploration of the heath led by ARC in 2023. A photograph taken on this walk by Robert inspired me to create artwork to promote these beautiful and often overlooked animals.

I believe if people, particularly children, see wonderful small creatures LARGER than life, they will start to look out for them, and then care for them, and then want to protect them and their habitats.

The sand lizard is the UK’s rarest lizard and now only occurs naturally on protected heathland sites in Surrey, Dorset, Hampshire and the protected Merseyside dunes systems. Working in partnership with RSPB, ARC have reintroduced sand lizards to  Farnham Heath as part of the national reintroduction programme.

This yearly Art Trail is made possible by Surrey Hills Arts (www.surreyhillsarts.org), RSPB (who manage this site), and the University for the Creative Arts (Farnham is the largest campus).  The circular walk features artworks responding to this beautiful location, focused on the wildlife, the flora or the history.

I am passionate about biodiversity and I wish for my art to make a case for small creatures. The lizard went from photo to watercolour to sand filled cloth model of about 35cm, to the full sized (oversized) creature you can see at point 5 of the trail. The sand lizard sculpture is made of cotton (some dyed, some Indonesian batiK, some plain, and stuffed with a mixture of sand and beechnut husks. It has twig claws and its only non-biodegradable element are the plastic “eyes”. It is attached to a log to prevent tampering.

If it is still in a viable state the sculpture will go to the New Forest Reptile Centre near Lyndhurst to sit outside the pods next spring as a donation to ARC.

Read more about the Heathland Art Trail at www.surreyhillsarts.org/heathland-artworks-trail/

If you would like to find out more about me and my work please visit my Instagram @sally.fergart or website.

You can visit Robert Fergusons website to see the original sand lizard photo which inspired this sculpture.