The winner of a new public art award was announced by the Mayor of Farnham at the launch of an exhibition of finalists’ models in UCA’s Foyer Gallery.

The inaugural Farrow Public Art Award invited UCA Fine Art students to design a notional artwork for Borelli Walk, near the footbridge opened last year.

Katherine Bouleau, from Alton, won with her proposal Five Fishes, inspired by the River Wey’s nature and geology and Charles Borelli’s Arts and Crafts links.

Her design features a central alder tree cone, made from bronze or fossilised limestone, supported by three bronze bulrushes. Water would flow from the cone, with fish, mayflies, caddisflies and a kingfisher attached to the stems.

Entries were judged by representatives from Farnham Public Art Trust, UCA Farnham and Farnham Town Council, alongside Sue Farrow and artist Jonathan Parsons, who helped establish the award.

John Neale, chairman of Farnham Public Art Trust, said: “It was hard to choose a winner, but the beauty of Katherine’s piece, with its references to nature and Farnham’s artistic heritage, and its public appeal, won out.

“Overall we were delighted by the range of the students’ ideas and materials, and the professionalism of their proposals.”

Another piece that resonated with visitors was Ivan Wai Laam Chang’s Ferns and Expectations, featuring a staircase of concrete suitcases surrounded by ferns.

Mr Chang said the work reflected his experience arriving in Farnham from Hong Kong with “three suitcases and no idea where I was going”, and the pressure to succeed.

He said: “My parents have funded this chapter in my life so I felt a pressure to succeed for them. I wanted to display this pressure through the concrete suitcases.

“I surrounded them with ferns, as Farnham means ‘home of ferns’, to symbolise my new home.”

The award was funded by the Estelle Trust, a charity founded by the Farrow family to support education and the arts. Ms Farrow has been active in Farnham for more than 30 years and is a founding member of the Public Art Trust.

The models and proposals will be on display at UCA’s Foyer Gallery from April 17 to 29.