"A very good service and installation. Always very helpful and professional."
Noel Hart, Director, Hart Associates Architects

The Love Over Gold Mural - Deptford

Community Art, art that belongs

Involving the local community in the production of any site specific artwork is central to its success.

Community involvement in producing artwork for public places does not mean the work must be of a lower quality. Good community artwork using the artists expertise in the right manner should produce the highest quality results. In fact the work must do so in order to foster the necessary respect for the work from the community, and to give the maximum pride in their achievement for those who took part.

Community involvement and consultation can take a wide range of forms, falling into four main areas:-

Pre-Design Consultation & Research

In creating a work that has true regard for its site local research can prove crucial. This research can take the form of both archive investigation and simply talking to local residents and other community members. In the past Gary has undertaken oral history workshops with local elderly people to discover personal stories of a local neighbourhood and held stalls at local fairs to publicise and consult on planned works. Pre design work can stop here or it can involve the community actually inputting visual ideas through design workshops where schools and community groups participate in artist led workshops. Design input can take a variety of forms, on previous projects this has included: poetry workshops; photography projects; museum and art gallery based projects; historical re-enactors; writers and local history workshops.

Design consultation

All the above starting points offer a rich soup of inspiration from which Gary can draw up specific designs. On most projects two or three design options are produced. These design options can then be further consulted on to ensure broad support for the work. Design consultation also helps bring the public along with the development of the work, aiding publicity and preventing any feelings of work just appearing in a community. Design consultation can range from a pre appointed committee to supervise the artwork to publicly open exhibitions and through to ballots and travelling consultation or public meeting sessions with the artist.

Parallel Art Workshops

Parallel workshops are an excellent way to involve local interested parties in an artwork that does not allow participation in the actual fabrication of the work. Artist led workshops are designed to get people making art, perhaps using the same theme as the main commissioned artwork or maybe using the same materials. Gary has run many successful major public mosaic works to include 'make your own mosaic' workshops. Not only does this give the participants a unique insight, understanding and appreciation of the finished artwork but as they also go away with their own mosaic, they have a permanent physical connection with the final work.

Community Art

Occasionally a project demands that the community be involved fully at every stage in a work, including the final fabrication. In such projects the process is often more important than the final work, though the final work should still be something of which all those involved can be proud. Mosaic has a unique place in such works, the simple act of placing a tile makes it a great equaliser. In the past Gary has run projects bringing together many disparate and isolated sectors of the community to work on a single mosaic. The effects can be highly rewarding for all those involved, making new links between groups and raising understanding. In this way a mosaic artwork reflects a community, those many disparate parts coming together to form a united whole. Whether its the elderly, the unemployed, people with disabilities, women's groups, black and ethnic minorities or lesbian and gay groups the placing of a tile becomes a levelling symbolic gesture.

However there are many factors which can restrict such projects especially budgets as often many hands do not make light work and safety restrictions can limit some projects.

Eversholt Community Centre Millennium Parish Map Mosaic

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