FOLLY Farm in Begelly has unveiled a very special memorial statue at its ‘Pride of Pembrokeshire’ zoo exhibit, to remember its male lion Hugo who passed away in 2025.

The stunning new life-size bronze bust of Hugo was created by Coleg Sir Gar’s art student Katie Morrissey. Katie had never worked with clay or bronze on such a scale up until now – and is thrilled to have her artwork on display at the award-winning Pembrokeshire attraction, for its guests and staff to enjoy for years to come.

Close-up of Katie Morrissey’s realistic bronze-sculpted memorial to lion Hugo at Folly Farm
Tutor Lee Odishow enthused; “This live project fell serendipitously within our schedule and coincided with the 2nd year Studio Skills brief. “During this module we typically cover varied techniques used within art, and Hugo’s portrait was a fantastic opportunity to work on so many aspects including: approaching a commission, client relations, mapping, working to scale, proportion, armature building, clay application and modelling, and working to a set brief.” (© Drew Buckley Photography)

Folly Farm met with Lee Odishow (‘Dish’), Fine Art Tutor and Technician at the college, and Lisa Phillips, Programme Director of Fine Art Practice to discuss the idea of commissioning a lasting tribute to Hugo, and they were equally as enthusiastic to collaborate on such a unique opportunity for their students – and to showcase the facilities available in the art school.

Eight students spent many weeks creating clay models of the handsome lion, but there could be only one winner who would have their project continue to completion and zookeeper Dan Sutton, who worked closely with Hugo for many years, selected Katie as the overall winner.

Katie, her fellow art students and tutors, as well as their family and friends were invited to the unveiling of the statue set in Folly Farm Zoo’s African lion exhibit, next to where Hugo’s family still reside. Katie then received a cheque from Folly Farm’s managing director Chris Ebsworth for her prize-winning sculpture.

Winning art student Katie Morrisey receiving a cheque from Folly Farm’s managing director Chris Ebsworth
Winning art student Katie Morrisey receiving a cheque from Folly Farm’s managing director Chris Ebsworth (© Drew Buckley Photography)
Folly Farm - Hugo memorial unveiling - Katie Morrissey congratulated
(© Drew Buckley Photography)

Katie was also able to join Zookeeper Dan on a special behind the scenes tour of the lion house and meet the pride including Hugo’s mate Luna, and their four daughters, Sola, Ebele, Alika and Zahra, before everyone enjoyed some lion cupcakes provided by Sandie Jones aka ‘The Cake Fairy Pembs’.

Katie was also able to join Zookeeper Dan on a special behind the scenes tour of the lion house at Folly Farm
Katie joins Zookeeper Dan on a special behind-the-scenes tour of the lion house. (© Drew Buckley Photography)
A Folly Farm lioness greets winning art student Katie Morrissey through the fence of the enclosure on the day of the unveiling of her Hugo memorial sculpture.
(© Drew Buckley Photography)