Art under the Flyover 2014

Background
Weve done a few years of public consultation around whether and what would work under the Cumberland Piazza and this year were ready to actually to produce some permanent artwork, painting surfaces and pillars. Art under Flyover 2011 was all about whether people wanted art and 2013 was experimenting with temporary artworks to see what interests people. The site has many stories which weve explored using poetry, childrens stories, installations and posters. These really caught people attention and 2 very different artists would like to work with some of these stories.

Blogsite for communicating ideas

Wish list of artists and ideas

Dave Bain
Having taken on a number of mural commissions, including a very recent commission with the Teenage Cancer Trust (a large-scale project for one of their funded hospital units), the potential prospect of working with the Art under the Flyover project is an exciting and seemingly appropriate one for my practice. All my large-scale project work has been with the focus of transformation. This seems particularly prevalent for the Cumberland Basin Piazza. In the same way that Ive collaborated with previous clients and users of mural spaces Ive developed, I would be keen to encourage a collaborative nature with the young people and local community, who would be using the area. This could take the form of running an open design session, getting some of them involved with painting the space and responding to their feedback about possible designs for the area. Having viewed the space, Im more than happy to be flexible with any other developments that may be going into the area to aid its transformation.

Some immediate initial ideas for potential designs

1) Robot designs on pillars. Each pillar being a separate robot, effectively holding up the bridge, working with splashes of colour. 2) Big, bold and brightly patterned design, referencing water splashes, referencing the existing waterways and the fountain/water feature that used to be on the site. Fish could be leaping amongst the splashes of water. 3) Constructing patterns and shapes using gradients of natural colours, to soften the concrete and tie in colours from planters and planted trees in the area. Wildlife and birdlife could be mixed amongst these patterns, for viewers to discover. 4) The pillars could be painted in solid colours, drawn from a larger artwork across a flat surface. This flat-surface artwork could be an expressive burst of colour and pattern, referencing nature, birdlife and water. 5) Illustrated characters of the various spirits mentioned in Voices of the Pillars.

Oli Timmins
Local Resident, graphic designer and artist experienced in creating street art. Oli teaches graphic design to young people and is happy working in collaboration with the community and other artists. Oli was also a skater in a former life and ideally suited to work alongside the skate community. He says I have lived in Hotwells for most of my life. I actually learned to skate board under the flyover in the seventies starting on a homemade board made from a roller-skate nailed to a piece of old floorboard. Oh and sometimes I still get out on one of my skateboards every now and then and would probably use the skate park myself.

Olis Ideas
Like Dave, hed also like to draw on the history and stories of the site, but base it around text, perhaps using the old street names. He would need to cut the whole alphabet of stencils and we could use these for any use in the space. He could make them the height of the horizontal concrete stripes across the site. We would then be able to tie together the look of the whole area. Olis work it is bright and colourful, using geometric design.

Costs
Labour (painting) day rate: 270 p/d / estimate 5 7 days work X 2 artists: 2700-3780 Design(s) for space: 1000 Materials budget: (dependent on size of space) 300 - 600 Project co-ordination/admin: 500 Young peoples engagement costs: 500 Total: 5000 - 6380