Work has begun on Bournemouth’s latest public mural with a team of students from Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) applying their design to the space under the Braidley Road flyover on the way into the town centre. Starting this month with expected completion by September this year, the new mural will be Dorset’s biggest to date.
A collaboration between BCP Council, LUSH, and AUB, the project has been a live brief for AUB’s BA (Hons) Illustration and BA (Hons) Graphic Design students, as Vincent Larkin, Course Leader of the Illustration course, explains, “BCP approached the BA illustration course and asked if our students would be interested in transforming the Braidley Road underpass area. BCP wanted us to design a dynamic cultural landmark for the route between the town centre and Meyrick Park, one of the main walking routes into town for students.”
“The space under the flyover is vast, and the mural will be the largest in Dorset once completed. To help us with such a significant project in both importance, prominence, and size, we collaborated with our BA graphic design students from the beginning.
“We also enlisted the help of Bridie Cheeseman and Jake Williams from Studio Studio, a multidisciplinary creative studio in Bournemouth, who undertook the design and direction of the project. Studio Studio make fantastic work, it’s great to have such qualified industry professionals on our doorstep.”
The ambitious mural will cover the three supports for the flyover (all sides) and the two back walls of the area. The mural is themed on ‘Creatives of Dorset’ and will showcase 15 local and varied creatives who have lived in, or have connections, to Bournemouth and the wider area.
Bridie explains the final design, “We worked with 12 illustrators and six graphic designers from AUB to unpack stories of local creatives celebrating practice and artistic innovation in our local area.
“Rather than a top-down art director led approach it became more of a symbiotic relationship with the students from different disciplines bouncing ideas of each other working on composition image and text fluidly, in awareness of the overall composition of the mural space.
“This is such a wonderful and transformational project; to be able to champion well known and sometimes lesser-known stories and building an iconic artistic location to celebrate creative activity in Dorset is so important.”
Creative figures celebrated in the mural include; PJ Harvey, internationally renowned singer-songwriter born in Bridport, Millie Bobby Brown, a Hollywood Actor and Director who grew up in Bournemouth, and Adama Jalloh, an award-winning photographer who’s worked with the New York Times, New York Magazine, TATE, Financial Times, NIKE and more.
Maisie Barr, an Illustration student, explained how they chose who to celebrate and why she wanted to be involved with the project, “We all picked people that resonated with us, with our opinions, and with our individual styles. I’ve always been interested in murals, and this was a great opportunity to see how they’re made. Murals are such a cool way of showing art, they’re so bright and colourful, and do so much to brighten up a town and make it look more vibrant and feel more welcoming.”
As well as being an additional piece of public art, the mural aims to redefine the space making it a safer and more positive place for locals and visitors alike as Marten Sims, Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course explains, “We’ve done a lot of research into the power of creative public spaces, place-making and wellbeing evidence. By turning this unloved space into a ‘place’, it will encourage people to spend time there looking at the artwork.
“We’ve already had enquiries from schools who are keen to arrange visits as it ticks a lot of boxes for them, namely visiting locally produced public art and introducing local creatives. Having people onsite visiting rather than simply passing through promotes positive social interactions and can potentially reduce anti-social behaviour.”
Research by Street Studies has found evidence of public safety benefits to urban art projects. In one study, they note that 93% of street users surveyed agreed they felt safer using a tunnel once the mural had been installed than before.
Marten continues, “A well-known urban planner, Mitchell Reardon, who specialises in making places ‘happier’, said that public art serves communities, one of the most meaningful effects of public art is that it creates ‘community fingerprints’ – spaces that make people feel represented, foster community ties, and give people a sense of ownership and belonging in their neighbourhoods. And this is exactly our intention with our designs for this space.”
Graphics student, Karla Noren, said, “The project’s been fascinating to work on, it’s shown us how graphics can be used in a more illustrative way and in an urban setting. From working on the designs, to how they’re implemented and how they’ll affect the space and the visitors, to the site analysis and the painting itself, we’ve all learnt a lot and really enjoyed the process.”
At fifteen metres high, the walls are scaled with scaffolding providing five ‘floors’ for students to work on, Gracie Davison, an Illustration student talks through logistics, “I think the most challenging part of the actual painting is getting perspective, we’re so close to the wall up there, and the wall is so incredibly large. It requires a lot of stopping and going to look at ground level to check everything looks okay from there.
“We used the Doodle Grid Method instead of the traditional grid method to scale up from the drawings onto the bridge supports, the grid method would have been challenging on these irregular walls. Using the Doodle Grid Method we drew a series of unique and random shapes which then acted as our reference points. It sounds mad but it’s actually much easier, surprisingly accurate, and much more enjoyable form the painter’s perspective than the square grid.”
Illustration student, Ethan Ho, added, “Most of us have just graduated so it feels great to be working on this one final project. I’m going back to Hong Kong soon, and it’s meant a lot for me personally to be able give something back to Bournemouth after being welcomed into the community while I’ve been studying here. It’s been amazing for all of us to be a part of something so big and beautiful that’s going to improve the town and be here well after we’re gone.”
Cllr Andy Martin, Portfolio Holder for Customer, Communications and Culture at BCP Council, said, “I’m delighted this exciting project is underway and cannot wait to see the result when completed.
“This is a shining example of the council joining forces with local organisations and university students to enhance an area frequented by many and in great need of brightening up.
“Not only will this be the biggest mural in the county when it’s finished, but it also provides our local students with a blank canvas to tell a story and express themselves through showcasing their own creative, artistic talents.”
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