Tortoise trail makes speedy progress with 200 designs submitted

Tuesday 29 November 2022

More than 200 designs have been submitted for the hotly-anticipated tortoise art trail due to take over Jersey next summer.

The fundraising generated from the Tortoise Takeover sculptures, which have already all been sponsored by local businesses, will be used to build a new amphibian and reptile house at Jersey Zoo.

The Tortoise Takeover - which Bailiwick Express is proudly supporting as official media partner - follows on from the success of the Go Wild Gorillas trail, which saw 40 large sculptures depicting the iconic silverback painted by artists and placed in locations around the Island in 2019 to raise money for a gorilla enclosure.

Next year's trail will feature 50 uniquely designed giant tortoises and the designs will be shortlisted by the Tortoise Takeover Team and local art experts before being presented to sponsors in January at a design 'shell-election' event.

In addition, 52 schools and community groups have signed up to be involved with the trail, with each group receiving at least one smaller tortoise sculpture, known as a 'young tortoise', which will be dotted around shops in town.

Princess Anne has already secured herself a tortoise. She was gifted one in recognition of her 50 years' Durrell patronage, and chose a design by local artist Gabriella Street to decorate her sculpture at an event last month.

Pictured: The Princess Royal picked out a design by Gabriella Street to illustrate her tortoise sculpture.

Artist co-ordinator, Will Bertram, explained that the response to the general call-out for designs this time had been "overwhelming... with lots of amazing designs and interesting ways the sculpture has been used as a canvas."

"There’s a lot of different styles and themes from a wide range of artists from Jersey, the UK and further afield, which is going to give sponsors a tough decision on which design they want on their tortoise," he added.

???? We’ve had a sponsorship shell-out in less than four months! ????

???? We’re very excited that all 50 of our giant tortoise sculptures have been sponsored. A huge thank you to the local businesses in Jersey who have shown their support for the #TortoiseTakeover trail. pic.twitter.com/ow3MaXxPCq

— Tortoise Takeover (@JerseyTortoises) November 28, 2022

Durrell’s partnership co-ordinator, Julia Voce, said: ‘It’s fantastic to have so many businesses eager to be involved, sponsoring all the tortoises in record time, only four months after the trail was announced. They all just flew off the shell-f!"