The latest piece of art displayed on the Sidmouth billboard is a semi-abstract winter seascape by Jennifer Bennett, who teaches art at Sidmouth College. 

The work, called Reminding Myself, aims to capture the feelings experienced when standing in front of the sea in winter. It has been painted in acrylic paints with mixed media and collage layers, including a map of Sidmouth and a poem. 

Jennifer said: “The painting was inspired by high tide when sometimes the beach can look quite wild, the waves are crashing upwards ... I like the idea of trying to capture it with textures and paint and explore what the paint can do.” 

She described it as ‘an homage to nature and that feeling of awe you can get feeling so small amongst the elements’. 

Jennifer said she was thrilled to have her work exhibited on the Sidmouth Wallspace at the Ham East car park.  

She said: “For me the billboard is a public community gallery, and it’s really exciting to be part of it – I'm really excited to have one piece up there, this scale is amazing.” 

The Sidmouth Wallspace project is a collaboration between Sidmouth School of Art, the Coastal Community Hub and artist David Shrigley, supported by Arts Council England and Sidmouth Town Council. 

Previous exhibits have featured artwork by Sidmouth College students, photo montages of local people and scenes, and a depiction of the Kraken on Sidmouth beach by street artist Steve McCracken. 

Last year the Sidmouth School of Art achieved charity status, and now has a ‘donate’ button on its website. 

Louise Cole, a director of the Coastal Community Hub and development director of the School of Art, said: “If people would like to donate to contribute to our community art projects, that will support the delivery of more community-based art projects for everyone to enjoy, build skills, showcase talent and new collaborations. 

"We are also interested in ideas from the community to develop new artworks which give creative opportunities to local people supported by artists and are interested in any group or business who would like to support the costs of bringing forward each installation."