"It's a piece of art - not a giant poo emoji", West Sussex sculptors insist

Their Periwinkle Shelter which was recently unveiled at RSPB Medmerry Nature Reserve (Earnley viewpoint) has attracted mocking pieces in national newspapers – plus online criticism. One comment on social media was: "I find it inconceivable that at no stage during the design of this massive sculpture not one person put up their hand to say, 'excuse me, but it looks like a giant poo.'"

But Rebecca insisted: “It is a periwinkle and if people see something else then that is the nature of art. Our art can be ambiguous and if people see different things then that is because it is art. But what is interesting is that if that is what people are seeing, then perhaps it hints to a certain extent at concerns about the state of our seas and rivers. It could be seen as a metaphor. That's our response but basically what I would say is that we see a periwinkle. We're not artists that court controversy.

“What I think has happened is that we are out in nature all the time, and the spiral occurs in nature as it does in poos. People are online an awful lot and are using these emojis an awful lot and maybe that is what they see. But we see a periwinkle. There's nothing to defend. It's there for three years and it is a sculpture and many people love it and some people don't. That’s art.”

The inspiration for the sculpture derives from archaeological excavations at the Medmerry site. Littorina shells (periwinkles) were found in the remains of an ancient fish basket – and this provided Mark and Rebecca with their inspiration. Woven from Sussex and Somerset willow, their Periwinkle Shelter signifies a glance back to Medmerry past and an acknowledgement of its new incarnation for the Medmerry landscape. Incorporated into the willow weave is a cloud window silhouette of a resident marsh harrier.

Mark explains: “We were approached by Chichester Bid and Culture Spark, and it is funded by Chichester District Council, Culture Spark, Southern Water and the RSPB. They were looking for artists to submit various proposals for a site within the nature reserve to commemorate ten years of the nature reserve. We love working outside. We love working with natural materials and this just ticked all the boxes.”

Rebecca added: “It was fairly open-ended. They had three or four possible ideas within the price range. They wanted a shelter and they wanted a couple of other things but what Mark and I did was come up with ten different proposals for them. It is such a lovely place and it just ticked all the boxes of all the things that we are passionate about, the environment and nature.

“They loved the idea for the woven periwinkle shelter. We did some research about the area and about this archaeological survey and the fact that they discovered woven willow baskets from mediaeval times. And at the bottom of the baskets there were little periwinkle shells. We said ‘Let's do a giant periwinkle shell!’”

Natural materials are key: “When people sit in one of our structures, they are sitting inside natural material and it is like they are inside and they are outside. It is not a barrier but people feel enclosed and protected. It gives people an experience of peace. I remember one woman told me that she had actually made a life-changing decision in one of our pieces because of the sense of peace that she had.”

Mark likens it to the natural childhood instinct of running off into the woods and making dens with sticks: “That's kind of what we are doing.

“We have used recycled steel armature that is fixed into the ground and then willow and wire. We wanted something that wouldn't blow away but we also wanted something that the winds would pass through.”

Rebecca added: “I'm so happy with it. I was not happy until we cut the ribbon and then you can get a bit of distance from what you have created. All the time you are working on something, you never really know until you are able to walk away from it and come back to it. I think it's got a lovely voluptuous shape. It is a wonderful place to sit and watch the wildlife. It is such a special place.”

Mark agrees: “I love the way that the form flows, the way that it opens up and bellows out. It's a really pleasing friendly form and the idea is that people can just sit in there and relax.”