A Brighton student has won a design competition to have her work on show at Brighton Marina.
Abby French, 22, a third-year illustration student at Brighton University’s School of Art and Media, also won a £100 voucher.
Her winning design for a vinyl wrap for 26 benches at the Marina was unveiled over the bank holiday weekend.
The competition organisers said: “It will be seen by the millions of visitors Brighton Marina receives each year.”
The entries were judged by a panel of experts. Their shortlisted designs were uploaded on to Brighton Marina’s digital platforms so that the public could vote for their favourite.
In total, more than 1,700 votes were cast on Facebook and Instagram, with the winning design receiving 620 votes.
Abby French said: “I feel so excited and happy about winning the bench wrap competition. It is going to be so crazy seeing my artwork out in the real world – also known as the Marina.
“When I found out that I’d won I couldn’t believe it. Knowing that my name and artwork will be in the public eye is an amazing stepping stone into the illustration world for me.
“I am graduating this year and this opportunity feels like a good sign for the creative career ahead of me.
“I came across the brief for the bench wrap competition two days before the deadline. Once I found the brief I was immediately inspired and excited by the opportunity so I got to work right away sketching and bringing ideas together.
“The competition brief was ‘What does the city of Brighton and Hove mean to you?’ This was a fun starting point for me.
“As a queer person, a huge factor of what I love about Brighton and Hove is how LGBTQ+ friendly and diverse everyone is.
“From pride flags to roller skates, greyhounds to seagulls, I wanted to try to capture everything Brighton and Hove means to me within my illustrations.
“Beyond my initial sketches, this entire piece was done digitally. I often try to stay away from digital art as I find it can make me lose fluidity and make my work more rigid. I wanted to push myself and see what I could do within this medium.
“I graduate this year and I hope to be working within my field of illustration as soon as possible. I work quick and clean and am open to job offers!”
Her senior lecturer at the School of Art and Media is the internationally renowned illustrator Roderick Mills who recently created the original artwork for the New York Times podcast “Serial”.
He said: “This partnership with Brighton Marina has given our students a fantastic opportunity to use their creative imaginations in interpreting the brief and to think about how art can help add to and improve the local environment.
“I want to say a huge ‘well done’ to all our students who submitted entries into this competition – and particularly to Abby for her outstanding winning design. I’m sure her work will be appreciated and admired by the many visitors to the Marina this year.”
It’s not the first time that she has been recognised for her talents, having also been a finalist on the BBC series The Great British Menu where her animation was nominated to be on the final show of the season in Brighton.
She said: “It was such a wonderful experience getting to work towards a professional brief then have my animation featured on the TV. To win both these competitions is so encouraging and I am excited to see what the future holds for me.”
Brighton Marina marketing manager Sophie Chandler said “We are delighted to be able to work directly with the local community. The response has been fantastic. We look forward to making this an annual event.”
The costs for the production and installation of the bench design have been covered by Landsec, the landlord of Brighton Marina.
Abby has given me an idea, this would make a great EDB bidz especially around the community centres. If this is something she’d like to consider, I hope she gets in touch with BHCC Community Engagement Team.