Ipswich will be immortalised in the form of a large pig sculpture as part of a charity art project.

Ipswich Star: Ipswich artist Lois Cordelia has been selected to create a pig for Pigs Gone Wild.Ipswich artist Lois Cordelia has been selected to create a pig for Pigs Gone Wild. (Image: Archant)

Artist Loïs Cordelia has been sponsored by the town’s Business Improvement District company, Ipswich Central, to design and create Pig-Geswyk.

The finished model will join a sounder of pigs that will be scattered across Ipswich and the Waterfront for 10 weeks from June 27 as part of St Elizabeth Hospice’s Pigs Gone Wild initiative.

Loïs said her design captured both ancient and modern Ipswich, with one side depicting Christchurch Mansion, and the other side showing Ipswich Marina. The pig’s title is based on the town’s medieval name, Gippeswic.

The 33-year-old artist was born in Ipswich, attending Gusford Primary School and Northgate High School and Sixth Form.

Ipswich Star: Ipswich artist Lois Cordelia has been selected to create a pig for Pigs Gone Wild.Ipswich artist Lois Cordelia has been selected to create a pig for Pigs Gone Wild. (Image: Archant)

Leaving the town to study Arabic at university in Edinburgh, Loïs returned to Ipswich in 2006 after her graduation to pursue her passion in the visual arts. She now teaches art workshops around East Anglia, runs a life drawing class at the Thomas Wolsey pub in Ipswich, takes part in live art demonstrations and illustrates books.

“I did very well in Arabic, I got a first class degree and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I went back to the visual arts because that’s my passion,” said Loïs, of Heywood Close, Ipswich.

“I still love languages and the way they open you up to other parts of the world. I think the Arabic script has been a huge influence on me, that beautiful flowing writing.

“Ipswich I still very much consider my home so I was so delighted to get this project with the pig being linked specifically to the town.

Ipswich Star: Ipswich artist Lois Cordelia has been selected to create a pig for Pigs Gone Wild.Ipswich artist Lois Cordelia has been selected to create a pig for Pigs Gone Wild. (Image: Archant)

“Ipswich Central chose my pig because they wanted that balance of the historical side of Ipswich versus the more modern side of it.”

Loïs works a lot with acrylic paint using a technique she calls “speed painting”, which is large designs usually completed quickly using sweeping brush strokes - this is the method she will use to create Pig-Geswyk.

At the other end of the scale, she also does very intricate work using paper and a surgical scalpel.

Since 1999, Loïs has worked as an assistant in the west London studio of children’s author-illustrator Jan Pienkowski, best known for his Meg and Mog series. Loïs studied Pienkowski’s work during her GCSE and A-Level courses.

She has since had her own illustrations published in books in Germany and Austria.