Shrewsbury Arts Trail

Shrewsbury is my home town and it’s one of the loveliest towns in the UK. It’s widely recognised for its links to Charles Darwin who was born here, Britain In Bloom and all manner of other events that take place.

One such event that has seen it’s third annual iteration this year is the Shrewsbury Arts Trail. A collection of art of all types for all ages, scattered around the town, in public spaces, museums, galleries, cafes, restaurants and many other venues.

This year though, it was bigger than the previous years, with work from many well known artists featuring in the Museum and Art Gallery as well as in the grounds of the Castle and the Dingle. In a bit of a coup for the art exhibitions in the UK, Shrewsbury was able to host several pieces of work by Salvador Dali, thanks to the Dali Universe. One piece titled Surrealist Piano was placed in the grounds outside the Shrewsbury Castle and featured a wonderful golden figure of a woman reaching elegantly to the sky. The legs of the piano are made of the legs of dancers such as one might see at the Folies Bergere.

Another Dali sculpture was called Homage to Terpsichore and this was hosted in the courtyard of the Museum and Art Gallery. Featuring two characters this was an outstanding and breathtaking work that will stay with me for a long time.

Inside the Museum and Art Gallery another Dali piece of work titled Dalian Dancer was unveiled along with the research and artists proofs that led to it’s ultimate construction. It’s a bronze statue of a female dancer wearing a flowing dress seemingly spinning on the spot. the level of detail in this piece is incredible and certainly a privilege to have seen in this local environment.

Along with sculptures by Dali, there were works by Jacob Chandler, Banksy, Damien Hirst, Matisse, Hockney, Dame Barbara Hepworth, and L.S. Lowry, All of the works were without doubt amazing and wonderful to see as part of the arts trail.

Local Movement

The arts trail is also opened to local artists to contribute artworks to perhaps be selected and put on display in some of the venues organised for the event. I took it upon myself to submit three of my photos to the trail and they were linked to the theme of “Movement“. I received a mail from the organisers saying that the three pieces I’d submitted would be used, with one being hung in the museum and art gallery, and the other two being located in the Parade Shopping Centre as part of the exhibition there. I was thrilled that my work had been selected and couldn’t wait to go and take a look at it in place. First though, I had to frame the photos and prepare them for the submission, after all they’d only seen the digital copy of the three pieces.

The first piece I submitted was titled Beneath and showed footsteps of gallery goers at Somerset House made during Photo London this year. It was framed and hung in the museum on the balcony level with many other of the local artists selected. This photograph shows people moving around above me, they’re not aware that I’m there and I can see the detail on the bottom of their shoes. It’s as if I’m living in the sewers watching people live in the world above me, almost as if I’m unseen. The people who own the feet in the image are also unseen to me, I don’t know who they are, where they’re going or what they are doing. It’s as if it could be some sort of confessional with the footprints providing the only clues as to the sins of the people confessing to me beneath.

This photo shows a small snippet of the other work up in the balcony level, all connected with the theme of Movement. I am proud to have had my work displayed in this forum and alongside other local artists as well as some of the world’s most famous artists.

The other two, selected for the Parade Centre were Art Of Movement and Red Rain Ramble. A pair of photos made on different trips to the capital this year also. The first was made in the tunnels between the Natural History Museum and Science Museum showing a long exposure shot of someone walking past a poster advertising a show called the Art Of Movement. The image came about as I spotted the poster and then stood opposite it using my 24mm lens on my Canon 5D Mk IV. shot at an aperture of f/4 with a shutter speed of 1/6 second to get the best possible level of blur. I propped myself against the opposite wall to give myself some stability and waited for people to walk past the poster. This single image stood out to me as the long coat or dress that the subject was wearing lent even more to the movement captured in the slow shutter speed.

It also felt that everyone moving down these tunnels had a place to be at a certain time so were moving quickly from place to place. I was ambling along, looking up and down, behind me and to the sides, causing a few people to wonder might I be up to but nobody came to ask me. I like this image as the four posters on the wall speak of movement but the subjects featured in them are stationary and clear to see, with my subject being an anonymous person speeding past.

The second was an image of a commuter walking along the Southbank outside the County Hall building, which is lit up at night and owing to the rain on this particular visit I spotted the opportunity from the Westminster Bridge and headed down there as soon as I could. I had a few photos with other colour lights and different people but this one struck me as the most appropriate.

the reflection of the colour and the person made this image from me but I had to crop the bottom of the image to make it fit a reasonable format. the figure is silhouetted against the background again giving us a feeling of anonymity, where has this worker been all day and how long does he have until he gets home at the end of his work day?

These two images can be seen hanging side by side in the Parade Shopping centre still, amongst the shoppers and art viewers.

Summary

As a result of applying for this Arts Trail I was able to attend the Private Viewing and meet a few of the other local artists and organisers which I was grateful for. There was a certain amount of impostor syndrome that popped up in my brain but I worked out that I was a part of the team that have created the content in this exhibition.

I would definitely apply for the arts trail if it were to take place again and would be tempted to take a few more risks in terms of scale and format of the images I’d submit.

It is also a massive honour to have seen the work of the other artists in the arts trail, some that I’ll probably never get to see again, especially in our small home town. I gained an immense amount of confidence from the whole process with compiling an artist’s statement and some words about each of the images that were selected.

Thanks to the team at Shrewsbury Arts Trail for their help, support and hard work to make this year’s trail a huge success.