What if the walls around North Shields became a canvas for artists?
You may not have heard of Elevation but the name gives a strong clue as to what it’s about, and if you live in North Shields odds on you’ll have already spotted the first phase of the project.
In June, a beautiful mural called ‘The Siren’ appeared on a wall on Albion Road, courtesy of North Shields-born – and now internationally recognised – street artist, Prefab77. It’s a taster of a new project being planned as part of the North Shields 800 celebrations next year that hopes to create eight large-scale murals. The Elevation Murals Project is the initiative of local resident and former councillor Matt Wilson. He has brought together a group of local people who share his belief that high quality public art can elevate a place, and provide a real feel-good factor.
“I discovered I shared a love of street art with my neighbour, Stuart Fearn, and we quickly began fizzing with the possibilities of creating some large scale pieces in North Shields. Everyone we spoke to about it encouraged us that it was a great plan, and the tie-in with NS800 was obvious. My wife Grace, who runs an Architects business in North Shields came up with the name ‘Elevation’. The double meaning is really clever. I wish I’d come up with it!”
You don’t have to travel far to find places that have been given a new lease of life by the introduction of street art. The headland at Hartlepool is a great example with severalartworks that make the area a nicer place to live and visit. Even closer, Ouseburn is a well-known public art hotspot.
The heart of Elevation is to transform some of the blank, boring walls around the town and along the Fish Quay with artworks that are inspired by our town’s unique spirit and story. That’s where you come in. The Team want to hear what comes to mind when you think of the ‘spirit’ or ‘story’ of North Shields. Your ideas will be used to help inspire the mural artists, so that the works they create tell stories that are important to you. So please take just a couple of minutes to complete the Elevation survey to give us your own, unique take on North Shields.
Go to: https://bit.ly/ElevationNS
