Our Project
This page is going to cover where we are up to with our project and in what direction it is going. Since the exhibition will be opening after the module submission on April 28th, the final imagery of the exhibition may not be included.
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View our project process below:
Our Initial Ideas
Exploring the brief is one of the most interesting parts when starting a project; with an exhibition, there is a chance to work with a lot of creative freedom. The initial ideas of the project involved ‘looking for works of art that depict the human condition in all its forms, whether it be through the lens of joy and triumph, or sorrow and struggle.’ We decided that we were interested in exploring themes such as identity, community, wildlife, and memories.
The exhibition ‘Being Human’ was a point of interest and we really liked its way of connecting with its communities and how they maintain that relationship so well (this is something we want to emulate too with the community of Birkenhead). Another point was the Labyrinth project by Elaine Reid which encourages people (within a community) to work together and explore the ‘Labyrinth. The use of interactive pieces has a positive impact on the community with their engagement so hopefully, we can get a similar reaction with our exhibition.
Being Human: https://www.beinghumanfestival.org/
Labyrinth: https://elainereidwriting.co.uk/flourish/labyrinth-walks/
We initially came up with four touchpoints that we thought connected to the Birkenhead community.
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Memory Box: why does the community visit the park, what memories do they have there?
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Past and Current Species: what wildlife is hidden beneath the trees in the park and is it still growing?
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What’s in your suitcase? asking the public in Birkenhead for any key memories or items that are meaningful to them.
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Rainbow: a colour variation of sculptures, pillars, flowers, and displays to brighten up the park more.
All these ideas will be presented to the gallery team to get their thoughts and to see if they could see the exhibition going in one of those directions. We want to make sure the external exhibition has a link to the internal one, whether it is through the community or the life within the park.
Visiting Birkenhead Park
The first time we visited Birkenhead Park as a group was a pivotal moment for the project. We got to meet the park and gallery team, got a tour around the gallery centre and the park, and learn about the history of the park.
Some of the ideas that were mentioned were the fact it is ‘the People’s Park’ with its history and connection to nature so they would like to see that presented in some way. Also, to see more engagement within the park, a trail could be introduced to allow people to find and explore their way around (a circle trail, to play on the idea of how ‘history repeats itself’.)
With this idea of community, we liked the idea of putting together a workshop together where the local community could get involved in creating something that could then be put together into one big artwork.
Overall, this first discussion was useful, and we got to have a good look at the park and see what areas could work for some sculptures. And it was important to hear the views of the events manager and park manager as they know the park best and how everything is treated to maintain safety. Going forward, we are going to focus on the idea of ‘the people’s park’ and look more into its history and what lies within the park that might need more awareness e.g., the landmarks, the design history, or the wildlife.
Scouse Flower House: https://www.scouseflowerhouse.com/
Developing Our Theme
With the idea of wanting the exhibition to be natural, we started exploring the materials within the park like leaves, stones twigs etc, especially since the seasons were transitioning out of Winter and into Spring (the start of new life). We began exploring existing exhibitions where these resources have been used to create some detailed artwork. With the level of detail that could be created with these stones, leaves etc, we collected some resources to being experimenting with.
Since the gallery team wanted everything to be natural, we decided to paint the twigs and leaves with watercolour paints as the colour would easily wash off when it rains and wouldn’t leave any damage. The images show how the paint brightens up the resources and it would be interesting to see what arrangements could be formed with all the colours and whether could be layered or hung from trees to give a surrounding view. However, one issue with this idea is if there are enough resources in the park to make a solid series of floor sculptures and if the sculpture would hold well in the park.​
Ideas Pitch to the Gallery Team
On our second visit to the park, we had a long discussion with the gallery team about the current ideas and outcomes we have for the exhibition. It was established that we can’t hang anything from the trees as that is dangerous for wildlife, but we could instead, place the sculptures on any dead trees around the park and on the railings that surround some of the grassy areas.
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The idea of displaying native species within the park was supported by the stakeholders and we felt it would be a suitable educational tool for engaging the community.
Some additional ideas that were made were to have plates to explain what each tile means, a QR code that leads to the park website for more information, and put together some posters so that our exhibition can be advertised with the Spring Exhibition.
Over, the talk went well, and it was good to establish a set of sculptures that we knew could definitely go up in the park.
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Flower Art Article: https://mymodernmet.com/flower-art/
iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/
Making The Sculptures
In the past couple of weeks, we have been focusing on putting together a variety of sculptures and pieces that would situate well in the park and stand out enough for public interaction. With the themes of ‘creatures’ and ‘wildlife’, the incorporation of images and natural materials is an important factor as we don’t want to place anything that could harm the wildlife in the park. We used the website database ‘iNaturalist’ to find out all the wildlife that had been sighted in Birkenhead Park in the past couple of years,
One of the sculptures that will be potentially going up is coloured image transfers on 10x10cm wooden squares. The process of getting the image onto the metal is by applying a PVA adhesive first and then layering the coloured image on top. Let that dry clear and gently begin to rub away the paper layers with water until the paper is soaked through and you can see the full image.
How this would work when placed in the park:
- When it rains, the water would collect on the metal images and gradually reveals the coloured image in full.
- The image will remain visible until the paper dries again. Then will reappear when it rains next (a fun, everchanging cycle).
For the bigger creatures, like the foxes, bats, and hedgehogs, we wanted to use a more flexible material like cork. Like the image of the colour squirrel, cork holds bright mediums like acrylic paint well so it would be interesting to see how all the other creatures would look like painted on it. Since cork is a flexible material, we would like to wrap it around the base of some of the trees in Birkenhead Park. They would all be collectively near each other.
The Exhibition
The setup for our external exhibition is the day before the opening on Friday 28th April, where we will pick spots all over the park to place the sculptures.
We will hopefully have a board inside the gallery space with a poster to adverse the exhibition and a small A5 zine that has information about the project, a page on ‘Birkenhead Park Wildlife Web’ and can be opened to reveal a park map with potential areas to view the sculptures on the opposite side.
For the small wooden sculptures, we want to place them in places that catch the eye naturally like the bases of trees (the events manager has identified some dead trees in the park that we could nail the sculptures to play around with the eyesight line). This would benefit from the upright position and would get properly wet if there is any rain during the exhibition (to allow the image transformation to happen!)
For the cork and woven wraps, we need to find trees that have a small enough trunk to wrap the base entirely with the material, so it gives the illusion of the fox’s movement. We have tested both materials' strength so we are confident that they will hold well when nailed to the trees.
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We are all excited to see our work up in Birkenhead Park and hope that whoever sees the pieces stop and think about the images and if they have spotted any wildlife out in the park that day.
