University

14 Sep 09

Author Philip Pullman has unveiled nine new grotesques, based on children’s designs, for Oxford University’s Bodleian Library. The new stone carvings are based on the drawings of nine children from Oxfordshire following a competition launched by the University.

The winning designs were selected from hundreds of competition entries, and children’s books provided inspiration with designs for the new grotesques including Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass and the lion Aslan from CS Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. Oxfordshire stone carvers, Alec and Fiona Peever, interpreted and transformed the winners’ designs into the finished grotesques.

One of the competition winners, 14-year-old Alfie Turner, is delighted with the grotesque of the library’s founder Sir Thomas Bodley, which is based on his original drawing. He said: ‘I heard about the competition so I typed in the word ‘Bodleian’ on the internet and Sir Thomas Bodley’s name came up. I thought if anyone was worthy of a place on the Bodleian it was him.’

Commenting on Oxford’s strong association with children’s literature, Mr Pullman said: ‘ I can only put it down the mysterious effect of the mists on the river. They have an effect on the stone that makes the expressions of the gargoyles change; they climb down off the walls and get up to mischief. That’s the sort of thing that happens at Oxford.’ He urged people to enjoy the gargoyles more, saying ‘ not just the new ones but the old ones too. We don’t often look up but Oxford is full of extraordinary things …so look up everyone! Look up!’

The competition inviting children to submit their ideas for replacement gargoyles and grotesques was launched in June 2007 because the originals had crumbled away over many years with no historical record of what they had once looked like. Entitled 'Millennium Myths and Monsters', it was part of a citywide festival celebrating 1,000 years of Oxfordshire.

Bodley’s Librarian, Dr Sarah Thomas, said: ‘I am delighted with the new grotesques, particularly given that many of them are based on characters from children’s best-loved books. They have been beautifully interpreted by the stone carvers who have managed to create grotesques that work as sculptures and yet still capture the original charm of the children’s drawings.’

The winners are George O’Connor from Oxford for ‘Dodo’; Hannah Duckworth from Oxford for ‘Green man’; Henry Chadwick from Oxford for ‘Three men in a boat’; Eva Masmanian from Oxford for ‘Tweedledum and Tweedledee’; Ben Bryant from Abingdon for ‘Wild Boar’; Alfie Turner from Longworth for ‘Sir Thomas Bodley’; Hayley Williams from Abingdon for ‘Aslan’; Kerrie Chambers from Bicester for ‘General Pitt Rivers’; and Alex Sermon from Abingdon for ‘From Myths to Monsters’ (based on Tolkien characters).

Philip Pullman with competition winners at the unveiling of the new gargoyles

The unveiling marked the launch of the festival ‘Oxford Open Doors’, a weekend of events organised by the Oxford Preservation Trust and Oxford University to celebrate the culture of the city and open the colleges and other University buildings to the public. Debbie Dance, Director of Oxford Preservation Trust, said: ‘The project is a tangible demonstration of the University’s commitment to the wider Oxford community as is their support for the open weekend.’