Squirrels Shopping Safely.

PUBLIC ART COMMISSION.

In spring 2021 Medway Council commissioned 10 artists to produce work for The Rainbow Effect, the aim of  the project was to reinforce the message of staying safe in Medway high streets as they reopen during coronavirus.

I produced a large textile hanging that toured small shopping centres in Lordswood and Walderslade.

As part of my research and development I was ‘virtual artist in residence’ at Swingate Primary School, Lordswood. I sent key worker pupils videos from my studio about the public commission and being an artist. I asked the pupils for their ideas on shopping safely during the pandemic and they sent me drawings and writing for the textile hanging.

The textile shows the school logo of squirrels and trees in a woodland scene. The squirrels and hedgehogs are shopping safely, wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands, there are  signs reminding shoppers to be kind and respectful, with arrows leading through the trees to a sunny ‘glimmer of hope’.

The work is hand sewn, using recycled materials and pupils drawings printed on fabric.

A big thank you to the staff and pupils at Swingate Primary School and the Medway shops that kindly exhibited the hanging in their windows.

During the summer of 2020, as high streets opened up following the pandemic, the textile work was exhibited at Rochester Visitors centre, Woodville Halls NHS vaccine centre and Swingate Primary school.