Painting in the Park

Stockton-on-Tees has recently unveiled their new Waterfront Urban Park. The site of a former shopping centre has been completely transformed over the last four years into a wonderful urban space, connecting the famous High Street to the river.

Getting creative at the Community Art Wall [photo credit Stockton-Borough-Council]

I got to see and hear first-hand reactions as people explored the park and engaged with the Community Art wall that I was facilitating. Now, just to be clear, I wasn’t doing it alone! Stockton Borough Council drafted in about seven professional artists to oversee different sections of the 64-metre-long wall which separates the newly developed park from a building site under development. Our brief: encourage the public to get creative.

I had the pleasure of helping people paint a portrait of themselves or someone else, real or imagined. It was great fun! Young and young at heart alike painted imaginative features, colourful hair and big smiles. Another section of the wall I prepared before the grand opening was a collection of flowerpots, ready for visitors to paint wonderful flowers, creating a cheery mural titled, How Does Your Garden Grow? Aimee Johnson joined me and did a fantastic job of facilitated this section.

With hundreds of visitors getting involved on the Saturday, our walls were full by the end of day one.

Then came day two.

Six meters of the wall was blank… That was our task for the day. No prep time, no thinking time and a 4pm deadline. If you know me and my how I work, you’ll know that I like to be prepared, well prepared, often with several lists!  It was

Ideas quickly taking shape

A collaboration between Junior Durrani and myself came together quickly. Inspired by a photograph posted on Instagram the previous day, showing the old Town Hall with the park’s beautiful new planting in the foreground, we got to work. Painting the buildings in black, the sky a beautiful shade of blue and blocked in a mix of greens across the foreground before lunch.

The mural was ready for visitors to get stuck in, filling the space with colourful flowers of any style and size. Our advice was simple: be bold and have fun.

Parents painted alongside their children, people slowed down, got involved, some needed more persuading than others, but all left smiling, proud of their contribution. It was wonderful to be a part of.

Visitors to the park contributing to the Community Art Wall

There was also something rather special for me about being back on that site. Back in 2022, I created artwork in the aforementioned shopping centre as part of Blank Canvas, a collaborative project which you can read more about on my home page. Returning to the same location, but in such different surroundings, was a real delight.

Early on the Sunday as we were just getting started, people asked when the mural would be finished, and we replied, ‘4pm’, I don’t think many believed us, but as 4pm rolled around we stepped back and looked at what had been created. We were delighted with both the concept and result!

And if you look closely at the clock on the Town Hall, you’ll see it’s set to 4pm.

Well done to everyone who picked up a brush and got stuck in over the weekend, you all did a fantastic job!

Day two’s section of the Community Art Wall