Artwork entrance to city centre gathers pace
08 June 2010
A giant mural that welcomes commuters passing City Waterside on their way towards the City Centre and provides a pleasing backdrop for residents is gathering pace. When it's finished, the artwork will tell a story all the way along the road.
It is hoped the art-based hoardings that cover boarded-up and demolished houses along a 450-metre stretch of Bucknall New Road will be completed by the end of this year. It takes time, said Nick Newman, project lead for RENEW, because it's vital that the local community is entirely happy with the artwork. After all, he said, it's their community.
“I must stress this is not top down – something done to the residents. They’re very much a big part of the design and they need to sign off on it,” he added.
Once all the hoardings are up, gaps where houses have come down will be covered up.
“We’re very keen to make sure residents’ property is protected. The artwork is both a security measure and to enhance the area,” commented Lee Carroll of the City Waterside Community Centre.
This was echoed by Cora Glasser of Glassball - the innovative art group brought in to give a unique touch to the regeneration site. “We’re not here to make wallpaper,” she commented.
“It’s vital the artwork has integrity and is rooted in the area it comes from. To achieve this, we’re working with lots of key people in the area. For example, we recently held a photo swap shop because we’re not there to absorb and take away but to give back up. Residents have been donating photos for us to use in the artwork so in return we took photographs of them to say thank you.
“We’ve been working in the area for nearly three years. The community is key and we’re pretty familiar faces in the area so trust has developed now which is extremely important when handling people’s family artefacts that are dear to them.”
To find out more about the Living Gallery project visit www.living-gallery.org
