4 C
Dorset
Monday, February 10, 2025

Celebrating Giants

The arts were always part of the Olympics in ancient Greece. The founder of the modern games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, re-established ‘Olympic Art Competitions’ in Paris in 1906, with the first programme presented in Stockholm in 1912. Artists competed for medals across a ‘pentathlon’ of five categories: architecture, music, literature, sculpture and painting.

Now there are no competitions. Cultural and artistic practice is displayed via the Cultural Olympiad over a period of four years previous to the games themselves. The difference between London 2012’s bid and previous ones was that Lord Coe promised a Cultural Olympiad for the whole of the UK, not just the host city. In Weymouth and Portland, this programme was called the ‘Maritime Mix’. Artwey’s ‘Giant Wall’ won a London 2012 ‘Inspire Mark’ and was featured as a major local contribution within the Maritime Mix.

The Olympics & Paralympics are inspiring. Their values of respect, excellence, friendship, determination, courage, equality and inspiration are universal values: they give us a blueprint as to how we might live our lives and act within our community. What Artwey did so brilliantly, so lovingly, was to take these universal values and apply them to everyday situations. Most of us have known someone inspiring and that someone is just as likely to be a neighbour, a colleague, a teacher, rather than an elite athlete on a global stage.

And so it began from a simple idea: for individuals to celebrate their local ‘giants’ by purchasing a small square or calico and some basic instructions. This allowed anyone to interpret the theme in their own style and with a choice of materials loosely based around the fine traditions of appliqué, tapestry, embroidery, drawing and painting. A gift of precise parameters, within which individual creativity and expression flourish, is I think a definition of some the best creations within our artistic tradition.

For the results to be displayed in the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is an apt choice: without this academy we would not have played such a major part in London 2012. Before a divided ‘Giant Wall’ moves to two permanent homes within the communities that created them, we should take time to marvel at this grassroots project, made with voluntary time, dedication and love: truly within the spirit of De Coubertin’s Olympics. And for those whose work is represented here, it is a chance to show neighbours, friends and relatives: to point at a simple square and say, “I was part of it”.

Alan Rogers. Former Cultural Coordinator for the Weymouth and Portland 2012 Operations Team.

To report this post you need to login first.
Dorset Eye
Dorset Eye
Dorset Eye is an independent not for profit news website built to empower all people to have a voice. To be sustainable Dorset Eye needs your support. Please help us to deliver independent citizen news... by clicking the link below and contributing. Your support means everything for the future of Dorset Eye. Thank you.

DONATE

Dorset Eye Logo

DONATE

- Advertisment -

Most Popular