Half-term fun with the town centre artworks on the Horsham Bug Trail

Running from Friday, February 18 until March 20, it offers a free community project in Horsham town centre.

The project is part of The Welcome Back Fund, Rewilding the High Streets, managed by Horsham District Council, funded by the EU.

Horsham Town Community Partnership is working with Creative Waves Community Arts to design and deliver the “bug” art trail.

Nadia Chalk, director of Creative Waves, said: “Horsham has such a vibrant town centre, with lots of great independent shops that wanted to be involved with the community re-wilding project. We’re looking forward to seeing the colourful Bug Trail artwork displayed on the shop windows.”

Free bug trail maps will be available at Horsham Museum and at various shops involved in the project.

Clare Mangan, head of economic development, Horsham District Council, said: “The economic development team is happy to support this imaginative and creative project. It showcases the wealth of talent in our local communities and how we can work in partnership to support our high streets.”

Students from Bohunt Horsham have designed the images of bugs that will be displayed in shop windows throughout the town.

David Searle, Horsham District Community Partnership, said: “HTCP are excited to be working with Creative Waves to highlight the issue of the lack of wildlife in our town centres. Our thanks go to The Butterfly Project and Bohunt School for supporting this community project. We hope that families visiting the town during half-term will take part in finding these pictures and enjoy returning to the Horsham town, meeting with friends and visiting their favourite shops

“The aims of HDCP are to benefit Horsham town and its community by working on issues and projects of interest and concern to the area. These will contribute to securing its long-term viability and the maintenance of its particular character, heritage and amenities.”

The Butterfly Project has designed and painted a collection of 20 butterflies that will be displayed in Horsham Museum’s courtyard garden. The colourful creations will hang from the fig tree for the duration of the project.

A Butterfly Project spokesman said: “Our approach to making our butterflies was to try have as much fun as possible so we concentrated on surface design so the artists could be free with their designs and then have the joy of seeing the finished butterflies once we cut them out. We did marbling, decoupage, painting, doodling and colouring. It was great to be able to use so many different techniques on one project. We are so excited to see our work hanging and we hope it brings as much enjoyment to many others as we enjoyed making them.”

The flower frames outdoor gallery in the planter at Carfax, will feature a temporary display of the bugs and flowers, highlighting the need to attract wildlife to urban spaces.

Nikki Claxton, associate curator, Horsham Museum, said: “The museum is delighted to be displaying the artwork from Bohunt School and the Butterfly Project. Many of the artefacts within the museum were created by Horsham residents of the past who were inspired by the natural world, and the displays in the Carfax and the museum garden will be a fantastic addition to this creative tradition.”

Creative Waves Community Arts is a not-for-profit company, focussing on health and wellbeing.