Art for the people

Urban regeneration and public art schemes have been valuable outlets for me in applied art, and they have provided a vehicle for the different disciplines in which I have trained. I originally studied fine art, and have always maintained a deep interest in design and typography. My most recent appointment – to develop public art for Middleton town centre – stems from my involvement with urban renewal in my home town. During the mid 90s, as Lottery funding became an agent of urban renewal, a small group of people in Manchester were perceptive enough to see the potential of the area now known as the Northern Quarter. Funding was secured for 34 public artworks, and I was commissioned to produce three of them. Public consultation was a key feature of the process and I learned a lot. I attended several of the sessions hosted by the Northern Quarter Association, whose mission was to make the artworks a meaningful expression of the area. This was particularly useful in my final project brief, which was to represent the music industry of Manchester from the 60s to the year 2000, in 20 cast-iron pavement panels. I had to filter the opinions and ideas of many people, and I quickly realised just how diverse people’s perceptions can be. To evaluate and condense these ideas, many of which were not strong in visual content, and to produce an aesthetically pleasing end result was a fascinating task.

In 2005, I was commissioned by Bradford Centre Regeneration to design and produce a street signage system to help create an identity for the redeveloped Little Germany District. I used public consultation as a means of narrowing down the solutions to this brief, which would need to reflect the area’s character. I produced printed visuals and sent them to Bradford for preliminary study. I was then invited to present mock-ups to a live audience. The version for which I had designed my own typeface was received most favourably and adopted. Arts magazines have regularly featured public artworks that have not been well received. I am determined not to repeat this mistake, and the success of the examples I have quoted should enable me to make a success of the Middleton Town Centre project. The aim of the feature – which is a joint venture to be funded by Tesco and Rochdale Development Agency – is to create a link between the existing Middleton Gardens and the entrance to the new Tesco car park. The proposed design consists of eight stainless steel banners, along with 30 decorative cast-iron floor panels. A successful public consultation has already taken place, and, since my choice of subject matter will reflect a wide variety of local history and is likely to last for a very long time, it is vital that I embrace the goodwill of local people in finalising the choice for my designs. I have already received positive feedback from community groups. The local paper will run a feature to invite contributions, and Rochdale Development Agency will collate this material for me to evaluate. Public art is always subjective and it would be impossible to please everyone. However, my style of art allows me to represent a number of views without compromising artistic integrity. There are a variety of fascinating people and events from Middleton’s history that will help me to capture the spirit of the town.