Merseyside Pride of Place Project

Presented by The Caravan Gallery
79 Renshaw Street, L1
Till 16th June 2013

Article and photographs by Redskye

The project is a big interactive art gallery which is attracting the interest of passersby. They are inviting the public into the venue, which was a former retail outlet, to create and contribute something.

Artists are also encouraged to bring in their work for display too.

Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, both of them artists, conceived of the project as an outcome of the public wanting to participate in their creativity. What often happens in such free art spaces is people feel comfortable to share their thoughts, ideas and stories about people and places in the photographs, which is often not the experience in most art galleries.

I caught up with Jan Williams, who was keen to speak about the background to some of her photographs and views on display around us.

“This is a really popular photograph and no one seems to recognise where it is. It’s on one of the most famous buildings in Liverpool - Lewis’s, directly under Dickie Lewis himself.

“I suppose what we’re trying to say is - take a bit more notice of your surroundings, look up as well as as looking at your phone when you’re walking along and you’ll find treats like this”, Jan added.

“I think they’re missing out on a lot. They could get a lot more pleasure and entertainment from being a bit more aware of their surroundings and maybe taking a different route to the same place, go down a back street, just go where you haven’t been before - maybe walk backwards!”

For me this was originally one of those ‘happen upon’ moments. I passed by the shop window on Renshaw Street, which is not my usual route through the city centre, and my attention was caught by a series of large colourful photographs, which enticed me into the building.

The retail concept of catching your attention with one thing and presenting you with something else is used here. There’s a creative zone where colourful things are cut out and made, flags, postcards and badges designed and displayed.

Other space in the building is used by other artists and photographers to informally display their work and for the public to contribute comments, stories and their observations on a huge map of Liverpool and one of Merseyside. There is more art and photographs on display upstairs.

The Caravan Gallery is an art gallery in a caravan and mobile visual arts project set up in 2000, Chris and Jan take their art to people and places other art galleries never consider doing. We could so do with a visit from the Caravan Gallery up in Liverpool 11.

The project is open from 11am to 6pm daily and closes on Sunday 16th of June 2013.

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Sorry Comments Closed

Comment left by bernie on 6th June, 2013 at 19:08
Lovely stuff here..

Comment left by Dvaid Thomas Crawley on 6th June, 2013 at 23:52
Thanks fo rthe write up with 'Liverpool Pride Of Place Project' and #HASP come on down http://www.davidtcrawley.co.uk/-hasp-jft96