Wildflower by Alex Goodwin (Billy Colours)
Synopsis
Next to the Urban Quarter development lies ‘The Mounds’ – a beautiful and somewhat undiscovered wild nature haven. Artist Alex Godwin (Billy Colours) has chosen to celebrate and signpost the Mounds with her new permanent commission ‘Wildflower’.
Wildflower is a site-specific sculpture, designed following a community engagement programme with local people in collaboration with Avon Wildlife Trust. The sculptural work emerged from the land as a giant, abstracted, colourful and playful flower, standing as a connector and celebrator between the new development and the outstanding wild-space right on the doorstep, celebrating the importance of green spaces in our cities.
The making of Wildflower, a video by Luis Veloso (Fried Peppers)
Description
Hengrove Mounds, an old landfill site, and now a rich wildlife haven, is full of meadow grasses, wildlflowers, plants and insects. Sitting along the edge of this new development it remains somewhat hidden and ignored. Billy’s engagement, and subsequent permanent sculptural work, focusses on celebrating this overlooked gem.
In close collaboration with Avon Wildlife Trust, Billy devised a community engagement programme that inspired ideas for the concept from the local emerging community. This programme encouraged a relationship with nature for residents, shared creative skills and aimed to help build a sense of place, belonging and community pride. Learning about nature through engagement workshops allowed a strong connection to emerge between the flower sculpture and the the specific wildflower species that grow on the mounds, such as wild carrot, corky-fruited water drop-wart, kidney vetch. Kidney Vetch is the only food plant of the small blue butterfly, a nationally scarce species which can be found in Hengrove.
Whilst the sculpture is not intended for physical play, it invites playful learning about nature through its connection to the Hengrove Mounds. It encourages local communities to take an active interest in their local nature reserves and plant more wildflowers in the area, something Avon Wildlife Trust are actively encouraging to raise awareness of the need for biodiversity in our cities.
Wildflower serves as a vibrant meeting place, a welcoming entrance and key connector to the nature reserve and all it has to offer.
"I want people to find beauty where you least expect it, like when you see a flower growing through a concrete crack in the pavement, I am inspired by the natural world and its unfaltering ability to grow back into the man-made environment"Alex Goodwin (Billy Colours)
"I hope the sculpture serves as a reminder of the importance of green spaces in our cities, a celebration and meeting point of human interaction and natural habitats.”Alex Goodwin (Billy Colours)
Fabricators
Technical Assistance: Paul Channing
Structural Engineer: Peter Beresford
Metal: Premier Laser
Metalwork: Tim Latter
Galvanising and Painting: Cardiiff Galvanisers
Transportation: Baber Transport
Video: Luis Veloso (Fried Peppers)
Further Reading:
‘Making Hengrove’ is the name given to the Public Art Programme for Hengrove’s new Urban Quarter Development for Tilia Homes (previously Keir). It is the vision of Public Art Consultant Diana Hatton Consultancy and Walter Jack Studio and comprises of three interlinked projects share an ambition to ‘build community, build skills and build a sense of place through collaborative acts and celebrations of making’.
Building Community: Co-creation and participation is integral to each project in the hope that creativity can bring the community together to share in the pleasure of making.
Building Skills: Hengrove celebrates some fantastic initiatives relation to this ambition. Making Hengrove aims to amplify, celebrate and support the creative talent already in the area.
Building Sense of Place: Sense of place is often about a vernacular of materials and building technologies. Thatched roofs, for instance, make the Cotswolds special. Much of this local distinctiveness has been lost through the homogenisation of building processes, however BS4 has a developing expertise in digital fabrication. ‘Making Hengrove’ will harness this to give a layer of distinctiveness to this development of new homes.
The three emerging projects in the programme include:
Commission 1:
‘Stories of Making’. Scott Farlow in collaboration with local communities.
Commission 2:
‘PositiveNegativePositive’ Walter Jack Studio in collaboration with KWMC’s The Factory
Commission 3:
‘Wildflower’ Billy Colours
Billy Colours. (Alex Godwin).
Alex Godwin is a Bristol based visual artist, also known as Billy or Billy Colours.
Billy creates colourful, engaging and aesthetically pleasing artwork from large scale public art projects, murals, to digital design. Her practice is focussed on social collaboration and community engagement through drawing, painting, public art, workshops and leading creative projects.
Her drive to connect her artwork to places and work with communities is what moves her practice forward and makes her projects impactful, unique and relevant in our changing society.
Billy’s graphic style is typically bold and vibrant, filled with playful motifs that promote a sense of wellbeing. By incorporating a strong narrative n her work, Billy had developed a strong visual language appropriate for young people and adults alike.
Avon Wildlife Trust is committed to enabling wildlife to survive and thrive across the region. More than 17,000 members, 650 volunteers and a dedicated staff team work together to make our local area wilder and make nature part of life, for everyone.
Paul Channing.
Paul is an artist and designer, undertaking public art commissions and helping other artists to work in the public realm.
His work always looks to people and place first. He is interested in solving problems, using innovative and sustainable materials, sourcing from local businesses to reduce a projects carbon footprint.
Paul embraces digital making and collaborating with other makers to produce playful, exciting and meaningful work.
Paul has a great deal of experience working in different material, with client groups and large design teams, with contractors, engineers and fabricators to get complex quality work, installed on site, to budget.
He has helped develop several public art plans for new housing developments, discovering what is special about a place and bringing it out through relevant engagement with the community and worthwhile and clever artistic intervention.
