Splash in the underpass
There’s an art project which fascinates me next to a Sainsburys, the A380 flyover and a small stream called Aller Brook. There’s something about it which says a lot about the way in which public art is done.
It was managed by Newton Abbot Community Interest Company and funded by Arts Council England and Teignbridge District Council. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. However, thanks to all-round good egg Kate Green, a series of public involvement workshops meant that people in the town have been involved in selecting what they want to see in four uninspiring subway tunnels rather than an artwork being imposed on the town. Because of that, people who walk through the tunnels have been asked what they would like to see, and invited to contribute ideas and memories.
Months later, it’s still pristine.
Why? Because people don’t graffiti their own houses.
It seems to me that the art was in the involvement of the people, the ideas they generated, the part they played in shaping it, and the ownership they feel. The art was in the creation of the emotional attachment to their sense of place and not the paint or the metal panels.
It’s the town’s art and not just the artist’s.
Part of my Postcards from Newton Abbot series of postcard-sized ink and watercolour sketches.
Ink: Platinum brun sepia pigmented ink
Pen: Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen
Watercolour: Derwent Graphitint watercolours
More Postcards from Newton Abbot
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