A fossilized marine animal that became extinct with the dinosaurs and a giant bullet are part of a set of sculptures, made from breeze blocks, that have won this year’s Geo Art Prize at Cambridge University.

The five winning breeze block sculptures were made by James Rolfe, a technician at Earth Sciences, the department that runs the competition.

The exhibition is inspired by geology work completed throughout the year by staff and students and encourages artistic talent from their family members.

The centrepiece of the set ‘Golden Ammonoid’ was made using the golden ratio, a measurement discovered by the Ancient Greeks. Since the Renaissance many artists and architects have used the ratio as its proportions are believed to be aesthetically pleasing.

Having never completed anything like these sculptures, James decided to play around with the material after coming across some bricks from the department which were going to be thrown away.

Another of James’s sculptures ‘Rifled Menhir’ is a block that has been shaped like a bullet standing on its end, and is named after an upright standing stone.

James said: ‘I’ve now been encouraged to carry on doing these sculptures; it was great to have something creative to fill my evenings that linked indirectly with my work.'

Entrants of all ages were invited to make, build, draw, paint, photograph or computer generate their entry.

In its 6th year, the competition attracted a diverse range of art from models of giant microfossils and abstract photographs of famous Cambridge landmarks, to intricate handmade jewellery.

Highlights of the exhibition are available to view online using the link top right of this page.

Joint 2nd place went to staff and students from the Sedgwick Museum for their volcanic sculpture and crocheted coral reef.

The volcano was made from papier mache and plaster of paris. Painted intricately, the volcano sat amongst brightly coloured crocheted corals which were made during tea breaks by Museum staff.

Admired for its community spirit, the volcano was based on Darwin’s theory of coral atoll formation.

The other 2nd place prize went to PhD student Chloe Cyrus-Kent for her spoof fossil ‘Halkera ‘dojo’ dubiosa’ which was based on a real animal.

The model was made using pumpkin seeds, spaghetti and plasticine and was cleverly accompanied by a mocked up article from the journal ‘Nature’, full of scientific quips.

The competition was judged by Nigel Woodcock and Barry Phipps. Barry looks at ways in which science and art can be merged within his role as exhibition curator at Kettle’s Yard.

Barry said ‘All of the art here is fantastic, it was so hard to choose a winner, but we really liked the fact that James had given something a go that he had never done before, whilst being eco-friendly. The sense of community conveyed by the Sedgwick Museum volcano was fantastic and all entrants deserve huge congratulation on their achievements.’

Exhibition co-ordinator Dr Judith Bunbury said ‘It’s great to see so much spirit within this art exhibition, its inspiring that art and geology can work so well alongside each other. Some entrants have even discovered new talents that they will now go on to pursue.’

Other entries included paintings, delicate watercolours, abstract photographs and beautiful compositions put together using graphics editing programme Adobe Photoshop. 
 

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