Worcester City Council, Worcester BID and Severn Arts have commissioned eight artists to create engaging bespoke designs to dress the frontage of seven vacant retail units, as well as lower floor windows at The Hive library. These are designed to give inspiration and enjoyment to the city’s residents and visitors.
The chosen artists who are now hard at work on creating the city’s new Outdoor Gallery are:
- Ivan Maxwell Jones (former A Write Card shop in Broad Street)
- Mia Rawlinson (The Hive)
- Sarah Millin (Hop Market unit five)
- Michelle Flint (Hop Market unit six)
- Mark Riley (Hop Market unit 17)
- Cherrie Mansfield and Richard Nicholls (former Individual Tailoring shop in The Foregate)
- Andrew James Round of Paradise Multi-media (location to be confirmed)
- Yasmin Agilah Hood (location to be confirmed)
The artworks will be installed from 9 October, creating a colourful and striking Outdoor Gallery that will add to the vibrancy of Worcester’s city centre.
Councillor Lucy Hodgson, Chair of Worcester City Council’s Place and Economic Development Subcommittee, said: “As Worcester’s economy starts to recover from the impact of the lockdown it will be a real shot in the arm for shoppers, visitors and businesses to see beautiful creations that these eight local artists will be unleashing in our city centre.”
Laura Worsfold, CEO Severn Arts, said: “We are really proud to be able to support artists and creative talent at this time and to bring some vibrancy back to Worcester’s empty shops to inspire and delight the people of Worcester as they return to work and the high street.”
Sam McCarthy, Projects and Marketing Manager Worcester Business Improvement District, said: “We are delighted to be working with such talented local artists to support the transformation of areas in the City Centre where there are empty shops. As part of the city’s recovery it is important that projects like this takes place to attract shoppers and visitors, while at the same time allowing social distancing.”
About the artists:
Ivan Maxwell Jones
Ivan Maxwell Jones is a contemporary landscape and abstract painter specialising in expressive and colourful paintings, particularly inspired by the light, weather and changing seasons of the beautiful Malvern Hills.
Mia Rawlinson
Texture, form and the physicality of materials play an important role within her practice as every mark, move, splash and pour changes the direction of the work and her way of thinking. The process of painting was initially, simply an enjoyable activity; now however, Mia is fascinated by the language of mark making and automatic drawing which can be seen throughout her work. Every moment in her practice holds a sense of playfulness and spontaneity as each mark is created through an energetic and intuitive process; very reminiscent of a child’s movements first time they put pen to paper and mark the surface.
https://miarawstudio.wixsite.com/miarawstudio
Sarah Millin
I use an array of media including paints, inks, pens, pencils and pastels. Nature is my main inspiration, I use play, colour, pattern, texture and shape throughout my artwork. Sometimes, I will combine everyday waste materials too, such as cardboard and newspaper for collage.
https://www.instagram.com/sarahmillin.co.uk/
Michelle Flint
I create realistic textile illustrations of buildings, landscapes and animals which are ‘drawn with thread’ using a domestic sewing machine. The designs are painted on cotton using procion dyes or acrylic paints mixed with a textile medium and embellished using free-motion embroidery.
Mark Riley
Mark is a visual artist and creative practitioner who works in paint, print, drawing and mixed media. Most recently he has focused on pastel painted landscapes exploring light and colour.
www.markriley-creativestates.co.uk
Cherrie Mansfield
Cherrie Mansfield creates bold, expressive abstract artwork that catches the eye and fires the imagination. Close examination of her work reveals mesmerising contours of colour, intriguing marks and undulating textures
Paradise Multimedia – Andrew James Round
I am an artist working in all aspects of digital art. I use open source software to create works of digital art ranging from videos to museum interactives in response to briefs. My personal practice is more experimental, often small proof of concepts to satisfy my own curiosity and continually push boundaries of what I can create.
http://www.paradise-multimedia.co.uk
Yasmin Agilah Hood
My style is playful, colourful and driven by intuition and drawing as a meditative process. I’m inspired by my heritage, feminism, emotions, human consciousness and spirituality and I enjoy illustrating people’s personal stories.