1. Introduction

2. Overview & Partners

3. Good Practice

4. Project Examples

   1. Arts on the Trail
   2. Bethlehem View
   3. Crossways Toilet Block
   4. Cultural Voices
   5. Journeys - Cotherstone
   6. Peases West Railway Walk
   7. Time'lines
   8. Youth Vision - Ballymena

5. Useful Contacts

6. Groundwork UK

Peases West Railway Walk

The project kicked off in Visual Arts Year (1996) and was the first public artwork to be created in the town of Crook, in the Wear Valley district of County Durham. Crook had once been a thriving coal-town with associated industries such as an enormous coke-works. A sculptor (Keith Alexander) and a writer (Julie Ward) were contracted to deliver the project, undertaking personal research and working with local school-children as part of the process.

Project Aims

To create an artwork for a public footpath and cycle-way which follows the route of an old mineral rail-track. It was important that the artwork should relate to the history of the area and that the artist(s) work alongside local people in order to develop their ideas for the design.

How we did it

Keith’s research focussed mainly on pre-historic times when tropical rain-forest covered the land. He discovered that Crook had once been on the equator and so he went to Kew Gardens to look at the kind of foliage that would have been growing when the carboniferous layers were being laid down. Julie meanwhile focussed on more recent history, interviewing local elders who had either worked in the coal industries or who had grown up around the area. She used the local newspapers to send out a call for information and organised a walk along the first section of the track. Initially she wrote a short story weaving together all the information she had been given. She then produced a short poem which distilled some of the narrative images.

Both artists ran workshops in two local primary schools, sharing their ideas with the pupils. The finished artwork is carved onto a series of reclaimed Jarrah wood tracks laid on the site of the old railway line. The project was managed by the district council’s arts officer who facilitated progress meetings between the artists and the various local authority works departments. The arts officer also put together an exhibition of archive photos, maps and other documents along with photos documenting the creative process. This was put on display in the nearby Civic Centre. Printed leaflets about the project were produced and are still in use.

Key learning points

• Research can lead to surprising discoveries, viz that the cold NE town of Crook was once part of a tropical zone!
• Public artwork projects need a realistic time-scale as they usually require consultation with various local authority departments, funders and other agencies which can slow things down.
• Finding a way to incorporate text into a public artwork can be very challenging.

Top Tips

• Hands-on exciting creative work with children is a good marketing tool as they invariably go home and tell their parents what they’ve been doing and why.
• It is not always possible to include everyone’s ideas in the final artwork so find ways of valuing all contributions, eg. Julie’s story and the exhibition.
• Use local artists where possible as they may have a longer-term impact on the way the local community value the project, eg. Julie still works in both the schools and has continued to develop work inspired by her research.

Participant Quote

Julie Ward, writer said

"Working on the project made me feel very passionate about the local landscape and when a public inquiry into an opencast mining concern was held I read my story and poem at a public meeting. These artworks are quoted in the judge’s body of evidence against further degradation of the area."

Further details

Commissioner

• Wear Valley District Council

Artists

• Keith Alexander, Julie Ward

Project partners

• Wear Valley District Council
• Arts Council England

Other participants

• 2 local primary schools

1. Groundwork Arts Toolkit

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