A DRAGON EMERGES AT PHOENIX COURT
The spirit of the ancient river flows through our environment, connecting and weaving threads of experience from across the community, calling along the banks to bridge distant shores and differences, bringing people together through the sharing of stories. As the sun starts to warm the earth in spring, the sleeping dragon awakens and roars life into our tales and mysteries, and the world comes into life and light.
Within the banks of an imaginary river, not unlike the hidden River Fleet which now flows underneath the city in Somers Town in channels and culverts, a river dragon has slept for eons. It is possible that this dragon is a Taniwha, emerging dozily into an strange land on the other side of the world, to a place unfamiliar and changed so much from when the original fresh clear and waters of the Fleet tumbled down from the hills at Hampstead and Highgate. On the banks of the river many people now flourish and grow, stories are told and shared around coffee cups and sandwiches, log fires and lunches in the homes and offices that now cover the land. You can hear Seth Randall Goddard tell the story here:
CREATING A MURAL
We were asked by Phoenix Court to engage the local community in a 2 year project animating the ‘canvas’, the dark blue hoarding currently surrounding their building on Brill Place. Given the location of Brill Place, on the old banks of the River Fleet, it seemed an ideal opportunity to connect this to our Heritage Lottery funded project - Voices of the Water.
The canvas acts as a place for local people to document and explore their own stories, connections, myths and ideas around water, working with artists and facilitators and collectively creating a mural to transform a blank corner spot into a vibrant and evolving artwork. Working with a range of artists, all with very different styles and approaches, we’ll help bring stories to life and enliven the environment of the river dragon, the plants and creatures with whom she shares her world.
The bold and graphic dragon painted by artist Katrina Adams forms an initial framework, structure and rhythm for other work to follow. Subsequent artists will be working with different local groups to bring out and focus elements on their own stories.
Each artist has spoken to us about the inspiration for their work.
Click the names to read more about each one:
KATRINA ADAMS
Katrina Adams, a printmaker and visual artist, who’s practice is deeply informed by the joyful clash of diversity, shapes and people and places in her surroundings said “walking the route of the Fleet as it flows underground, you see arches and circles, grilles and kerbs, all part of the architecture reflecting the path as well as the energy and spirit of the river. My dragon forms are inspired by this ramble, where you can sometimes hear the water flowing beneath the pavement”.
BRYONY BENGE-ABBOTT
Bryony Benge-Abbott created a swirling dragon tail.
“The workshops were an opportunity to start to imagine what the river dragon might look like. Through imagery gathered from ancient and popular culture, drawing games, collage and painting we explored various visual techniques to describe different qualities, powers & personalities of dragons. The children created their own designs before working as groups to generate three final designs for the River Fleet dragon mural. I then took details from these designs as well as briefings from conversations with the children to inspire the first part of the dragon body that spans the hoarding, draping her tail with pond weeds inspired by pond dipping activities and visuals of sea dragons”.
ANNABEL LEVIN
Annabel Levin, an Art teacher working with Year 10 students from Maria Fidelis School told us “the starting point for our contribution to the mural was the Story created and inspired by the river Thames. Students discussed in groups themes around nature, conservation, environmental issues, myths and symbols. To be totally inclusive and allow students to be confident and creative I decided that collage was the best medium. I sourced a range of nature images and drawings of people, some in black and white, some colour. The students decided they wanted to create hybrid creatures loosely based on mythical stories. They would be guardians of the river to protect and guide the plants and life in the river. They mixed and matched images and added colour over some parts of the creatures and finally glued them all together to create their collages”.
MARCOS CASTRO, ANTONIO GRITON AND JAVIER CALDERON
Finally this year, Mexican artists Marcos Castro and Antonio Griton worked with Javier Calderon, director of the local Somers Gallery and mastermind behind the annual Day of the Dead festival celebrated in Somers Town. The paintings were part of this year's festival. On the canvas, Tlaloc has been painted by Marcus Castro, whilst the abundant life forms around him have been painted by Antonio Griton.
Javier summarised the ideas behind their work, “perhaps the biggest loss for Mesoamérican cultures was the loss of the representation of natural deities such as ‘Tlaloc’ the lord of rain and water. Water, Fire, Air and the Earth were sacred elements which gave life while in balance and destruction in situations like the ones we are living. In Aztec iconography, Tlaloc is usually depicted with goggle eyes and fangs. He is most often coupled with lightning, maize, and water in visual representations and artwork and is also associated with caves, springs, and mountains, most specifically the sacred mountain where he was believed to reside”.
TORI FLOWER
Tori Flower is a creative director who loves creating playful, participative ways of engaging people in social, cultural and environmental issues. For this project, as part of Voices of the Water programme she ran a series of creative workshops with the Fellows, and designer Sam Griffiths. The young people first explored map making and their sense of place. They then considered their relationship with water and illustrated their associations, stories and memories connected with water, inspired by learning about the underground River Fleet.
The group co-produced an artwork entitled Reflections. This depicts the route of the now underground River Fleet merged with the shape of Taniwha, the watery dragon of myth. This is surrounded by illustrated vignettes of the young people's associations and memories of water, created using ink and wax crayons, producing a water-resist effect. The artwork aims to prompt other people to consider what water means to them.
Tori then adapted this artwork to become the next layer of the Phoenix Court mural.
She simplified their drawing to be more graphic and recreated this with paint. She added circular wall vinyls showing sections of the young people's illustrations. A colour-coded key explains the themes behind these images (for example the environment, community, and historical stories).
The phrase FLEET BENEATH YOUR FLEET is included to invite passers by to consider the hidden waterway running under their city.
Voices of the Water Fellow Ellie Awcock assisted Tori in producing the mural.
Tori says "I wanted the mural to include the young people's drawings - which are delightful - so the wall vinyl elements allowed their creative fingerprints to feature. I felt it also needed to be bold and work well with the existing artwork, so the simple graphic style allowed for this."
CAMILLA BRENDON
Camilla Brendon uses colour and form inspired by ocean habitats and issues to create visually appealing installations from found materials. For Voices of the Water CB worked with year three students from St.Marys and St.Pancras primary school to create a play and masks based on the student’s creative writing inspired by the river Fleet.
At Phoenix Court CB created three artworks based on masks made by the students. CB worked with found and recycled plastics. She worked with layering and different textures to make unusual forms that sit between 2D and installation works.
Over the next year more ideas will fill the canvas as we continue to work with local people to create a vivid backdrop to day to day life.
Notes from the Garden
The barge art session hosted by Sarah Pimenta and Pia Jones was reviving.