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Capital of Sculpture was a community arts project, working with local artist / WEA Tutor Stephen Hitchin to produce a commissioned sculpture or mural for the local community of Kensington; this was part of the wider Culture of Arts project. The Partnership was between the Workers’ Educational Association, Communities7 (part of Riverside Housing) with Funding from Merseytravel and the Celebr8 Fund.  The project involved groups of learners from the local community; these included sheltered housing residents, Communities7 tenants and members of the Ghana All Stars Football Club.

The idea of the project was to bring together the local community by working with a diverse range of people from different backgrounds and of all ages to create a local meaningful arts sculpture for the area. The group met on a weekly basis helping the artist Stephen to finalise a concept and produce the final sculpture. We planned a number of outings within the Kensington area. The learner’s visited Kensington Library to research the history of the local area, Botanic Park to generate ideas and a visit to the Brideway Studios, where Stephen is based for some hands on modelling.

Capital of Sculpture also took a unique approach, unlike other traditional arts commissions; this was to give a sense of ownership to both those involved in the project and to the community. We wanted the learners to be involved in all stages of the project. The approach allowed for the learners to become involved not only in the initial idea generation, but to contribute to the final design and work with the artist at his studio.

We also planned an open evening where local residents and community groups attended; they were also given the opportunity to include their own personal experiences or local history stories of Kensington. We would then try to incorporate these into the design, benefiting future generations to come by telling a story of Kensington over the past few hundred years.

As this was a project for the local community, we wanted the community to become involved from the beginning; including where they would want the final piece to be situated. The Mural was unveiled at an opening event in October 2010 and is now situated at the new Community Fire Station in Kensington. The sculpture is available for viewing by both visitors to the station and the general public. From the photographs you can see the developed area is complimented by the relief mural.

Alex Whittle

Culture of Arts

Project Manager