A major installation by a leading contemporary British artist was due to pop up in Chelmsford High Street today in a bid to encourage more women to donate their eggs.


Stuart Semple will also be giving away free limited edition signed artworks - in the form of balloons - as part of the Something Amazing project, commissioned by The Fertility Partnership, but is hoping people will then continue this generosity by passing them on to others.


Semple, whose large-scale canvases fetch up to £300,000, says he wants to make women think about the amazing gift they could potentially give.


He said: “I’m really excited to be creating these new pieces. It’s amazing to be able to lend my art to a cause as important as egg donation.


“I see art as a really generous thing and the idea that art can link so directly to life is wonderful.”


Chelmsford is one of six cities chosen for the project – the others being London, Glasgow, Southampton, Nottingham and Oxford.


Every year 2,000 children are born in the UK as a result of donated eggs, sperm or embryos, but due to a shortage, women can wait up to two years for an egg.