Big Draw Paint Up

Last week Cristina Lina returned to Stoke to paint up the design which was created in last October's Big Draw Workshop, where she worked with participants (and park users) to explore the future for the park.
See blog post from the workshops here.

 

 

Big Draw

The Big Draw the other week in Hanley Park went very well. It didn't rain; plenty of people rolled along; everybody had a good time and made a bunch of good ideas. Thanks to Bob Catterall for his excellent write-up on the days activities, and also for to all the enthusiastic students from Staffs Fine Art who helped with the day, and ended up producing a spectacularly complex science fiction mud mountain.
I am currently working on translating some of the ideas that came out of the day into an image that can hopefully be installed over the hoardings across the bridge in Hanley Park. Anna Francis has been pivotal in this whole project, and is currently liaising with the Park and the Council to make this happen, so fingers crossed! Here is an image of the hoardings as they are now, and above is a sketch of one of the images we might use on the hoardings.

AirSpace Gallery and The Big Draw in Hanley Park

This week, AirSpace Gallery co-ordinated Stoke-on-Trent's part of The Big Draw.  The 'Big Draw' is a nationwide campaign to get people of all ages drawing and building links with museums, outdoor spaces, artists - and each other. 

As part of the ongoing Park Traces Project - a collaboration between Airspace Gallery, the University, and the City Council to creatively map and document Hanley Park -  this particular Big Draw, run by Cristina Lina, an artist from London but currently residing in Stoke and an AirSpace studio artist, sought to stretch

imaginations to model all the wild, wacky, and wonderful possible futures of Hanley Park. The project is separate from the Heritage Lottery Funding bid being put together for the Park, but the ideas can feed into that process and have an effect on the eventual decision making.

 

 

The day's activities were documented and blogged by Bob Catterall

A Bright Future For Hanley Park (Working Title) As Stoke City Council prepare to submit designs that complete a bid for Heritage Lottery funding to regenerate Hanley Park, artist Cristina Lina has been inspiring the local population to approach the redevelopment with an exciting and playful twist. As part of the Big Draw 2013, an initiative designed to 'help people see, think, invent and take action.'* in conjunction with the Park Traces  partnership, Cristina has designed a workshop that feeds directly into the proposed overhaul of the park. Using clay as diorama bases, participants were invited to re-envision the park by decorating them as imaginatively as they possible could.

 

  

Decorated with the insignia of the event organisers, including Airspace Gallery and Staffordshire University the band stand filled up quickly. Surrounded by inspiring posters that detailed previous park projects, both locally and around the world, the excited community set to work sculpting alternative visions of Hanley Park. First kneading out the clay bases into their desired shape, before decorating them  using a mix of vegetation sourced from the park, craft materials and plastic jungle animals. The public produced an intriguing set of colourful pieces limited only by their imagination, from sweetcorn banana trees and cheerful November barbecues, to broccoli shrubberies and amphibious whales.

As the day progressed, the cold set in in and the breeze chilled the band stand, but work continued   despite the turn in the weather. The workshop was a huge success, and was well attended, with over sixty people of all ages and backgrounds joining in to help shape the future of the Park. Though most people wrapped their dioramas in foil and took them home, the documentation is set to inspire a new, unified design for the park. Commissioned by Airspace Gallery as part of the Park Traces project, Cristina Lina is currently bidding to create a new piece of work informed by today's events and intended to brighten up the hoardings surrounding the bridge beside the bandstand.

Bob Catterall bobcatterall@ymail.com https://www.facebook.com/bobcatterallartist

A really successful and well attended event produced these amazing results - food for thought for the development stage.

BIG DRAW THIS WEDNESDAY!

The 'Big Draw' is a nationwide campaign to get people of all ages drawing and building links with museums, outdoor spaces, artists - and each other. As part of the ongoing Park Traces Project - a collaboration between Airspace Gallery, the University, and the City Council to creatively map and document Hanley Park, this particular Big Draw event will be stretching our imaginations to model all the wild, wacky, and wonderful possible futures of Hanley Park. This project is separate from the Heritage Lottery Funding bid being put together for the Park, but of course our ideas can feed into that process and this will be a space and opportunity for unlimited imagining to happen! We want the most impossible, audacious and ridiculousely wonderful parks to take shape...

this Wednesday 30th October

At the Bandstand in Hanley Park

12pm-3pm

We will be modeling our visions in clay, tinfoil, twigs and leaves, corrugated cardboard, ping pong balls and toothpicks. We will be drawing and designing artworks and activities to go on in the park, and selecting the wildlife to live there...

 

Some images to get the rollercoaster rolling:

PARK TRACES BIG DRAW EVENT

Taking a very three-dimensional approach to drawing, on Wednesday 30th of October from 12 - 3pm in Hanley Park's Bandstand we will be imagining all the incredible futures for the Park and  begin modelling these ideas. We will be using everything from brocolli to glittery paper to ping pong balls to make our visions real; this is an event for all ages so bring your friends, grandparents, toddlers, pet rabbits, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Buttonholes

CLUMP