University of Warwick public sculpture wins prestigious Marsh Award

A sculpture on the University of Warwick campus by one of Britain's greatest living artists has been awarded the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association's (PMSA) Marsh Award for excellence in public sculpture 2016. Entitled 'Habitat' the artwork by David Nash OBE RA was installed in Diamond Wood on the university campus to mark the University's 50th anniversary last year. David Nash carved Habitat , a 7 metre high public sculpture from an ancient cedar tree that fell during a storm at Portmeirion in North Wales. It is sited at the entrance to Jubilee Woods at the University of Warwick and is designed to become part of the woodland's eco-system as it weathers and becomes inhabited by birds, bats and insects. At the Award ceremony in central London on the evening of Wednesday 2 November, a delighted David Nash said: "I'm surprised, very pleased, and particularly pleased for Warwick University for this recognition of their long term policy of commissioning sculpture for their campus. This project had a natural progression from the invitation to make a proposal, the gale that blow the cedar tree down, to the site that gave birth to the idea, the assistants who helped carve the form, and all those involved in the installation. Many projects are fraught with difficulties but "Habitat" had a very smooth path to realization." David Nash said of the sculpture: "I chose this site for the sculpture to be a signal for the biodiversity Diamond Wood will become in the future.