placemaking – Street Art Walking

December 4, 2017December 17, 2022

Port Stephen’s Team Visits Newcastle

On Friday 1 December I was lucky enough to take the Strategic Planning Team from Port Stephen’s Council out on a city adventure from Newcastle East to (nearly) Cooks Hill. It was positively rejuvenating to meet such an outgoing and vivacious team who had so many questions around the process of engaging artists and commissioning creative projects.

Starting in Newcastle East at The Grain Store, which was The View Factory when This Is Not Art Festival used it as a canvas for walkARTbout, to show the energetic team some of the best creative projects in The City of Newcastle. Our walk revealed DIY gardens that residents share with those who walk by on the street, showing how residents taking pride in the public spaces has such a profound impact of creating a unique identity for places, including ground murals and bunting down secluded laneways.

The Newcastle Beach Tunnel is an example of a public artwork commissioned by The City of Newcastle as part of their Graffiti Management Program. The artwork by Trevor Dickinson (who first created Newcastle street art as part of walkARTbout in paste-up form) was commissioned in 2011 to rejuvenate wall which had the historic Time Tunnel mural by Birgitte Hansen which was painted in 1990. Twenty-one years had resulted in a great deal of wear and tear so a new commission was made. Respectfully, Trevor pays homage to the former artist on the wall by leaving a section of Hansen’s work to peek through his new design. Trevor’s work has become highly well-known since these two projects were completed and Newcastle is a key subject for his designs – one attendee on the tour even had a deck of his Newcastle Productions playing cards!

Estabar provided the perfect rest stop as we picked up our coffee for the journey from the start of Hunter Street through to a range of hidden locations to reveal artworks by Adnate, BMD, Mike Watt, Jumbo & Bafcat.

Hunter Street Mall by Umpel and Ben Foster

Artwork by Umpel (left) and Chehehe (right)

February 19, 2016

Street Art Walking on Oxford Street

Street Art Walking is excited to announce our first Sydney project working with Place Partners and Urbanistas Sydney to develop a mural for a building located at the very start of Oxford Street.

The project has been approved as part of Place Partner’s Oxford Street Activators project and will revitalise a currently tired (and tagged) wall facing the famous, Oxford Street.

The mural will have a nature theme and anyone who can come to the paint day is welcome to participate!

March 2, 2014December 17, 2022

Detroit – Part I

It has been many months (nearly a year!) since I had the opportunity to visit Detroit, Michigan. But as anyone who has spent thirty minutes with me will tell you, Detroit has not been out of my mind (or heart) for a moment. Today, I will start my series of blogs, highlighting my journey from departure to return. With so much time passed since I have returned back to Newcastle, Australia, there has been an interesting chance for reflection upon my visit. The distance from the Detroit moments has helped me identify things that I may not have appreciated whilst in the moment.

So many people asked me, ‘What was the best part?’

My answer has immediately been, the people.

My journey began with the generosity of people and this theme ran through my entire stay. So this post is dedicated to all the hearts and hands that went into making my Detroit visit the wholesome, rich and amazing experience that it was.

First off, are the forty supporters from my Pozible campaign. The feeling of having people believe in your work gave me such a sense of purpose, a very nice way to start a journey like this.

If it weren’t for the campaign (and this local paper article) I would not have had the fortune of crossing paths with Alan and Loraine Stear. Alan and Loraine were visiting Newcastle (from Detroit, MI) whilst I was promoting the campaign to travel to Detroit. Loraine took the time to get in touch via the website, offering to help whilst I was in Detroit. The help from Alan and Loraine was overwhelmingly inspiring and gracious. I was hosted by them, introduced to their friends and family as guest of honour.It was such an honour to be a guest of theirs and I know it helped me see a loving, community driven, side of Detroit.

Their friends Harriet and Alvin extended so much support in helping me see the best sides of Detroit. I was able to stay in downtown Detroit with Harriet and Al, allowing me to walk (although their start of Spring weather is certainly a little different to ours!) to the Project for Public Spaces Global Placemaking Council Meeting.

I cannot thank both families enough for the support and generosity they extended to help me feel at home, in their homes. I was able to see and meet so many amazing people through them, which you will all meet in the upcoming posts.

Here is the last photo I took in Newcastle (Cardiff views from the train to Sydney) and the first image I took in Detroit (Michigan Central Station).

Arriving in Detroit - Michigan Central Station — Arriving in Detroit – Michigan Central Station

Part II – Project for Public Spaces Meeting – Next

March 1, 2014December 17, 2022

Wickham Station Placemaking

Last year we found out that some of our art and placemaking friends were working on an exciting project for the stairs at Wickham train station. Mark Aylward (who has been a key driver in some great placemaking projects in Newcastle West), had sparked a project online with artists Lu Quade and Erynwithawhy. As we are all pals online, we had seen each other commenting on a photo featuring a brilliantly coloured mural over the face of a long set of stairs. Mark, being the proactive and ambitious artist that he is, decided to find some stairs so that Newcastle could have it’s own version.

Mark sought permission to paint the stairs, sourced sponsorship for paint from Dulux (special thanks to representative Steve Kiem) and mustered up artists Lu Quade, Erynwithawhy and myself to join in. This project was probably the most fun (aside from the somewhat awkward posture posed when painting stairs – it’s hard work!) painting project that I have been involved with.

It was great seeing people smile as we painted the bright colours over the dull concrete. Some people asked, ‘Why?’. To which we would say, ‘Why not?’ or ‘Because we can!’.

The stairs have since been featured in an article by The Herald which you can see here. I would like to personally give a shout out to Shrek for his comment. We agree, this is a first class piece of art, indeed. Oh and my favourite part of the day was when the popo turned up to see if we were vandals. No, sorry. We sought permission.

Unfortunately, most of the photos I took of the two days of painting have been lost after having my phone stolen (boo!). Yet, here are some photos which we shared on Instagram (lucky we have those, I guess).

August 22, 2012June 27, 2013

Street Art Walking meets No Longer Empty

Yesterday I was lucky enough to share some time with Naomi Hersson Ringskog from No Longer Empty (NLE), a New York based organisation with a focus on renewing and revitalising urban space.

Naomi’s background is in urban planning and it was fantastic to tell her about my home city in Newcastle, Australia.

As anyone from Newcastle knows, we have some seriously divine empty buildings, some of which are of a very large scale.

What kind of buildings, you ask?
Well there’s some heritage ones that come to mind which are the Post Office, two old department stores, local icon The Star Hotel and The Victoria Theatre. Oh, and the Ammityville Terrace house near Wickham Station, plus the big green empty terrace house next door to where I live. Oh, and Pigeon Palace, as I call it in Hamilton. These are such grand buildings (or would have been in their hey day), yet slowly slipping away right in front of the community. Here’s some pics for those who may not know Newcastle, Australia.

Luckily, we have Renew Newcastle supporting the good cause and making use of the spaces that can be matched with an eager creative industry business. This amazing organisation has helped launch over eighty creative businesses in many empty spaces with the heart of the Newcastle CBD.

My work with Street Art Walking has
been looking at the in-between spaces like laneways and blank walls. Or worse yet, grey walls. I’m also particularly interested in how arts intervention into these empty spaces can bolster the communities and businesses together. A good place, filled with art, is so much better than an empty space.

It was great to chat with Naomi about their process of interacting with a site to produce exhibitions or events that not only activate spaces but also engage in important dialogue. The NLE team go through stages of research such as looking at the phstical space, researching the history and interacting with local community groups and organisations to find out what the space means to the people within the area. There is a sensitivity to their process that I feel is perhaps the key thing I will take away from this meeting.

What’s a good place? Well, for me, it could just be a local moment, an event that celebrates the story of an area, it’s people and the history that is important to the identity of an area.

As I’m out and about in the streets doing my research (photographing and measuring up, are usually what I get up to in empty and disused laneways) I always meet someone who is curious about what I’m up to. When I get a chance to speak to them about my vision for what could be in the area, I’m met with such enthusiastic tones and excitement. And there is always a story. Or two. Or three.

One NLE project that resonates with me is Living Walls, The City Speaks which is an annual conference on street art and urbanism in the city of Atlanta.

There’s so many good links, resources and projects coming from NLE that I urge everyone reading this to follow them, if you aren’t already. Email subscribe, Facebook and Twitter follow and if you are feeling generous like I am, why not give a donation. It truly is nice to support a project like this and if I lived in this country I would certainly be heavily engaged with what they do as a punter, volunteer and anything else that I could be involved with. But for now, I shall continue to support this organisation online by clicking through to their articles and sharing with fellow ’empty space’ and arts enthusiasts.

I am inspired to come home and follow the path that I am on in intervening with empty slaves through arts based projects. A term that Naomi used yesterday reminded me of the powerful role we can have as ‘Agents of Change’. I had read the term before but hearing it out loud was validating and confidence boosting.

I realised after sharing my ideas, vision and current processes with Naomi that I am well on track with the revitalisation projects that I am working on. The main areas for me to pursue are now to engage with wider community groups beyond the arts sector such as historical societies, elderly citizens, youth groups and church groups. It’s time to find the mass community and start finding out what stories they have to share, as well as what ideas they might have for Newcastle.

On that note, I am pleased to be a judge for Newcastle2020, a local exhibition ran by young Novacastrians who want to inspire brighter visions for our city, as well as find out what ideas out cities young people have for their place.

I’m confident we (all the various groups and organisations) are well on-track with revitalising Newcastle and look forward to bringing together more people to help lift dreams into realities. We just need to bond and work together a bit stronger. Many hands make light work, as they say.

Thank you to Naomi for her time and feedback on the projects I am involved in back home. I look forward to continue to build on this newfound connection and will happily be a tour guide for NLE, should they find their way to Australia.

Don’t forget to follow Street Art Walking on Facebook www.facebook.com/streetartwalking
and Twitter @streetartwalkin

August 20, 2012June 27, 2013

Meeting Manhattan

So after a gritty introduction to DUMBO via a warehouse loft, I have now settled on the Upper East Side, in a very modern studio apartment.

Manhattan is beautiful with tree lined streets that have these cute little fenced off areas areas bottom. My best friend who is getting married here next week (hence my visit) told me that people can take on gardening in the spaces outside their homes. Since I was told this, I have noticed how each one is subtly different.

I have fallen in love with all the green landscaping around the streets and even on the buildings. I have been interested in how plants can interact with space for a while now and have been developing a body of work based on plants that ‘take over’ spaces. I found some amazing terraces with vine trees that look as though they are married perfectly with the building facades.

As well as carefully curated garden landscaping, there are also the empty lots with weeds overflowing, offering a juxtaposition much like home. I find these places truly inspiring and can be nice ways to find out what a ‘place’ wants naturally. If a place is lush with weeds, maybe it’s perfect for a garden? I’m sure ‘friends of the high line‘ would agree.

In Newcastle, Australia we have some places in Hunter Street mall that are lush with weeds, waiting for a community style garden.

Here’s some shots from empty/fenced off lots around New York; from Brooklyn Bridge Park to First Avenue.

The last two above were taken on First Avenue. It was a surprise to see such a levelled and empty block in such a new and filled area. As I was leering through the peephole, two men commented that there was a better view from his vantage point, so I joined him to see he was making a joke about the empty eyesore that it was.

We began to chat about how this could happen (the financial crash has halted the developer from building some new condo style living there) and I mentioned how fascinated I was to see nature take back these spaces, in the meanwhile. I mentioned how much I liked the square viewing window, as it helped give community a sense of place by allowing them to see in. In Newcastle, lots are fenced up and forgotten about. This is possibly the worst thing, as there’s no sense of ownership given to people who walk past everyday. It’s as though one can be locked out of your own place, with walls keeping us away.

As we all really related to the ideas, we introduced each other, Kelly and Frank were just so friendly and interested to learn I was from Australia. As it’s on Kelly’s ‘bucket list’ to visit! I gave him my card and offered him my Australian time, when he gets to the land down under. I was very pleased to see him email me really quickly and show me a link to what he does. Kelly is an actor and comedian, whom has had a diverse career in the military before following his passion in the theatrical arts. Please see his website to find out about this friendly New Yorker who just made my day. I’ve even got some tips on local comedy club to visit. For those of you that know me personally, humor (or homour, back home) is a huge part of my personality and also the basis of some of my best friendships. The friend that I’m seeing get married this week has such a great sense of homour and it’s really how we bonded when at high school. I’m somewhat sarcastic and cynical at times, if you didn’t know! It’s all in good fun though 😉

After this great interaction, I continued my journey towards fifth avenue and Central Park, to visit the Met Museum.
Here’s some stuff I saw on the way there and back.

The Met Museum was enormous and so very grand. If I lived here, I’d be a member and would visit regularly. It was just so big! I went for the Egyptian, Medieval, American Collection, Modern and Contemporary section. By then, my feet were getting tired so I was about to leave but I forgot how to get out! When I went to an info booth the lady assured me that I needed to see the rooftop bar before I go. And how could I not?

Here’s some pics from Met highlights. I loved the Tiffany room and a lot of the antiquities in the American collection, the medieval designs in stained glass and seeing some studied artworks from the modern era. Seeing Picasso up close was just fabulous. The surface textures were so raw yet finite and just something you cannot fathom from a reproduction in a book. I have a thing for Warhol, so that was special. the whole experience was very special and a nice reminder of my academic roots in Fine Art. Yes, I love street art but one can’t deny the art history and all it’s offerings.

It wasn’t until I got home that I completely missed the photography section. My photo pals will be half as disappointed as I am that cod overlook this. But hey, you can’t always have it all. I still have the MoMA to visit. That’s how I justify it, anyway.