Painting & Panels
Artists: Tony Parkinson and Bill Wilson
The idea of this section of the arts project was to create an image of a small community through the representation of valued items belonging to the individual people who worked at or used the centre.
The staff and service users of the Grange were asked to bring in items that had special meaning to them. The items brought in ranged from photos of families, club membership wallets, brooches, documents and press cuttings, to name a few. The owners of the objects were asked for short statements describing what these pieces meant to them. After a lot of editing the descriptions and the items were photographed and using digital imaging techniques were printed as four inch squares.
The art group produced eleven paintings of various Throckley and Newburn scenes. By placing the photos and paintings together to form a solid unit we were showing the service user individual experience combined with the association of the village community.
The two quotes at the bottom of both panels are from one of the Trustees of the charity (Ivan Watson). The other quotes around the sides are from two service users of The Grange. The names of all service users, staff and artists who were involved in the panels are written around the edges.
Special items
During a week's event at The Grange, staff and service users brought in objects that had a special meaning to them. Each person described why the item was important to him or her and this was recorded using digital imaging.As well as being reduced into four-inch squares for the mixed media panels they are also displayed in handmade books with statements from the owners. The covers of the books were painted on silk and created by May Pinkard, Jen Anderson and artist Nicki Balfour.
Supported by:
Kellett Fund at Community Foundation and Newcastle City Council Arts Development Team
