Here in the UK (and beyond) you may have heard about Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth art project called ‘One & Other‘. The project involves a different member of the public standing on the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days to make a living monument. Each individual may use their hour on the plinth as they wish.

Here in Nottinghamshire a local artist and actress, Hazel Ellerby-Sansom, has been chosen to stand on the plinth on Wednesday 12th August at 3pm. Hazel has decided that she wants to spend her time celebrating women of the East Midlands (UK) and the traditional craft of patchwork.

So, Hazel wants women of the East Midlands to create patchwork squares which will be sewn together to make a quilt. She will display the quilt on the plinth whilst reading out a message for each square. After its time on the fourth plinth the quilt will travel around art galleries in the East Midlands and will finally be auctioned off with the proceeds going to charity. Details of art galleries, dates of auction etc are still to be confirmed as this will be an ongoing project.

If you’re a woman living in the East Midlands of the UK (it really does need to be the East Midlands only please) then how about you send a green message from the Fourth Plinth? All you need to do is create a patchwork square sized 12″ x 12″ of any design with a short message attached. Tell London and the world about how important the environment is to you. Keep it short though (just a few words) as Hazel only has an hour to read them all out.

Please send your completed square (one per person please) to Hazel Ellerby-Sansom, 17a Fisher Lane, Bingham, Nottinghamshire, NG13 8BQ by 1st August to be displayed on the plinth. Hazel will accept squares after this date for the quilt’s longer term plans but they may not be included in the plinth display.

I’ll be making my patchwork square this weekend and I’m very excited to be involved!

The Fourth Plinth project began on 6th July and will end on 14th October 2009. You can watch the footage 24/7 online at www.oneandother.co.uk.