After the official unveiling of the new public artwork at the Eastern Gardens in Sandown, we caught up with Hannah George from Island 2000 who has been managing the project since it’s inception.
Hannah explained that she’d met with the then current head of Tourism many years ago to discuss Island 2000’s thinking on using the space to display public art.
It was quite a challenge to come up with something that would work within the mixed use space. Clearly, as it is right on the seafront, whatever was chosen would need to withstand the sea, rain, wind and possible vandalism.
Unless you’re involved in the process, it’s probably hard to understand that public art can be long and fairly tedious process, as Hannah tells us. Often the practical aspects (planning permission, etc) become more of the process than the actual artwork and it can be difficult to keep balance right.
Island 2000 have, of course, worked with AJ Wells before (The Catch by Michael Forrest in East Cowes) and fell in love with the longevity of the materials and processes involved.
Hannah told us that David Knight from AJ Wells had proved invaluable in helping to install the artwork, which looks stunning against the cream walls.
Momentum
After hearing about the trials and tribulations of the planning process, we asked Hannah how she manages to keep up her enthusiasm for projects like this. Something that drives her passion is travelling around the Island and spotting areas which would benefit from public art.
The fabulous thing about Island 2000 driving projects like this, is that once an artist produces a piece of public art on the Island, it springboards them onto other public art projects around the UK.
In our view, Island 2000 (and AJ Wells for their involvement) really ought to give themselves a huge pat on the back for this.
Nathan Holt for example, who now has quite a few public realm artworks under his belt, should be more than qualified to go off the Island put himself forward for other public art projects around the UK.
Public Arts Coordinator
Something that Island 2000 would welcome in the future is for the Isle of Wight Council to create a Public Arts Coordinator role created based within County Hall.
Hannah explained that Stuart Martin, the Town Centre Manager had been a great help during the project, but that a dedicated role would allow public art to be more intrinsically developed in new projects, opening up to section 106 money etc.
Hannah’s enthusiasm for her work has always impressed us and she certainly had a lot more to say about the project and the work of Island 2000. Why not take a break for five minutes and listen on …
[audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/u-are-here-hannah-george.mp3]
