A MURAL celebrating Whitehaven’s rich history has been created thanks to the collaborative efforts of three organisations.
The Colourful North joined forces with Greenbank Community Centre and Home Group to transform a stretch of wall on the Greenbank estate into a mural showcasing the town’s history.
Inspired by street murals in Melbourne, Australia, The Colourful North aims to help restore communities by using art to re-identify industrial or unloved areas which lack inspiration or social purpose.
Armed with rollers and paint brushes, Greenbank residents helped create the mural on a 130-foot stretch of wall during the weekend event, under the guidance of muralist, Andy Burns Colwill.
The artist has over 30 years experience with notable exhibitions in London, New York and Greece.
The Greenbank community were invited to a public consultation prior to the event to select what they would like to display.
Residents voted for Andy to create a mural dedicated to the history of Whitehaven which allowed The Colourful North to present inclusive opportunities for the community to participate in creating the design.
The project was expected to take 10 days but was completed in eight.
Matthew Labourne, director of The Colourful North, said: “Through the fantastic artwork The Colourful North has been able to commission here in Whitehaven, it has led to offers throughout the north of England to commission similar projects which will assist in repairing industrial or council communities which have had little or no investment since their commissioning. “Our ability to transform Greenbank into a metaphorical basement of the Sistine chapel using Whitehaven’s rich and prominent history has enabled The Colourful North to show exactly how cultural development looks for us as an organisation. Whether it’s paint in a monotone application or the creative genius of Andy Burns Colwill, we hope to inspire community minded people into re-decorating their communities and promoting innovation from within through the medium of creativity.”
Mr Labourne thanked Transform-LSG (Cumbria Entrepreneurs), Bell Group UK, National Lottery Community Fund, United Utilities and Cumbria Community Foundation for their support.
He also thanked Whitehaven Archive Centre and the Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners for their assistance in researching Whitehaven’s history to ensure the mural was as accurate as possible.
The event follows pervious successful events across West Cumbria including Emmanuel Church in Moor Row which saw The Colourful North commission a WWI field of poppies, Whitehaven Academy with a shortlisted pupils’ design applied to the sports hall facilities, and Flimby train station event where Flimby Primary School and Workington Academy transformed the train station into a colourful welcoming entrance to tourists looking to visit Flimby.
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