Creating a joyful elephant with a special sparkle

“Conservation is very important – essential in fact. A world without elephants would be a disaster.” These words by Manchester-based artist Lorna Green explain her deep-felt love for elephants and the awareness raising that the intu Elephant Parade tour seeks to establish.

Lorna is one of two Manchester artists that are taking part in the 14-stop Elephant Parade national tour presented by intu. The inspiration for her creation ‘Sylvan Sparkle’ was the jungle areas in which elephants live.  Lorna explains: “I tried to capture the forest, the rain and the sparkles. Funnily enough, the exact idea came when I was skiing last year – I was skiing down a tree-lined run and suddenly saw the sun shining through the depth of the trees – it created a sparkling diamond effect. I knew I wanted to make the elephant very lush, but it was that precise moment of the sun shining through the glistening trees that I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I picked the diamond, emerald and topaz gems to reflect the colours that come from the sun. It was also rather fun trying to explain to my glue specialist that I wanted to stick jungle leaves to an elephant!”

Her design idea also gave special attention to the intu tour being Elephant Parade’s first-ever indoor exposition, giving the elephant statues exposure to half the UK population.  Lorna said: “I think the merits of a national tour over a single city exposition are clear. It means people all over the country can experience the elephants without having to travel long distances. The fact that they are at intu shopping centres is great – everybody goes to shopping centres, so they can either come across the art by accident or make a special trip to go and see it.”

Location and environment is important to Lorna who describes herself as both a sculptor and an environmental artist. “My work is all site-specific” she says, “which means it’s specially conceived for the area it will be featured. I do a lot of research into the local area, the local architecture, the mythology and I use stories from local people to help build a picture of the surrounding area so that I can reflect this in my work. So I don’t just work in a studio and then plonk it down, it’s all specially thought about for where it’s going. That’s why this project was so appealing – the elephant is all about its environment and where it lives, which is why it’s so terribly concerning that its habitat is in danger.”

Lorna went to visit the Elephant Parade, when it visited intu Trafford Centre in autumn 2013. She was delighted to see her creation and the company it kept. Lorna adds: “I think all the other designs are delightful. You don’t undertake a project like this without giving it an enormous amount of thought – this being a national tour, I knew my elephant was going to be seen by many people on its travels. When I look at the other designs I see the same thing – the immense thought that has gone into the elephants.”

Lorna’s work blends a mixture of the serious and the fun, which is a reason why she felt such an association with the Elephant Parade national tour. “Although the subject matter is obviously very serious, I think it’s so important that the way

Elephant Parade raises awareness is great fun and joyful. Elephants are very fun creatures, so it’s fitting way to raise awareness and help secure their future.”

For more tour information, images and artist profiles, visit the official tour website: www.intuelephantparade.co.uk