#williamson art gallery

‘…and the River flows on’ (2017) 

Lead Artist: Robyn Woolston http://www.robynwoolston.com

Project Blog: http://andtheriverflowson.tumblr.com

Fabricators: Benson Signs http://www.bensonsigns.co.uk

Urban Design & masterplanning: Ian Parkinson http://www.parkinsoninc.co.uk

Last week saw the installation, as part of the Wirral Waters development of the docklands in Birkenhead, of a project which has engaged with over 300 community members over the last 1.5 years.

It takes inspiration from the River Mersey, it’s geological formation, the historical import and export of goods, the dockers and manufacturing history alongside the future regeneration of the Birkenhead docks.

Our project partners have been drawn from a wide demographic of collaborators including:

• PEEL 
  
• Wirral Waters
  
• Wirral Methodist Housing
  
• Wirral Mind 
  
• YMCA
  
• Pop-up workshop attendees
  
• Summer school workshops
  
• The Spider Project
  
• The Friends of the Williamson Art Gallery
  
• Wirral Museums (renamed in November 2016 as the Williamson and Priory Friends)
  
• The Williamson Art Gallery
  
• Residents of Lee Court supported living, Holyoke
  
• Arts Council England

The panels are situated adjacent to a plot which will house a new nursing college for the region and within an area that will soon be landscaped with lighting, seating and planting. 

Note:

Photo three (above) shows Fred Biddulph, a former sign-writer who learnt his trade on the dockside, and who contributed to the lettering on the panels. Standing opposite him is Julie Davies - Team Leader for Wirral Independent Living and Learning (Panel 6 - Lee Court)

‘Men Marched Asleep’ (2018)

Williamson Museum and Art Gallery, Merseyside, CH43 4UE 

Nov - Dec 2018

Heritage Lottery Funded

The title of the installation takes its inspiration from the fifth line of the Wilfred Owen poem: Dulce et Decorum Est 

…a poem which provides a deeply evocative description of men exhausted by battle but continuing on. It’s a journey-narrative saturated by time-and-toil, regimental history and personal loss during the Great War. This sense of movement is conveyed in parallel by the installation itself as a series of historical objects, personal photographs and artworks created by the local community transport the visitor through an immersive and evocative environment peppered with lines taken from the poetry of Owen alongside a life-size trench.

Serving & former soldiers contributed to a workshop programme alongside members of The Spider Project, a creative arts and well-being recovery community programme.