Alphabet Street

East Cowes Primary students braved the cold January weather to make their contribution to the East Cowes Alphabet on Castle Street under the artistic guidance of artists Nathan Holt and Aaron Fletcher. Reception and Year 1 children got stuck in with paint, sponges and stencils to add to the Alphabet. A is for Apple, H is for Helicopter, S is for Spectacles, Sunglasses and Shades and Z, well Z is for Zombies of course.

The alphabet is part of the 'No Barriers' project for East Cowes supported by SEEDA. Look out for more additions to the alphabet and more art on the hoardings in the coming months.

Here Come the ABCs...

There's been plenty of activity outside our office over the past couple of weeks. As part of the No Barriers project, we've commissioned Island artists Aaron Fletcher and Nathan Holt to create a giant alphabet along the vast stretch of blue hoardings in Castle Street. Here are a few pics of work in progress - they've been busily painting the background and have just started on the huge lettering. Crocodiles, guitars, castles, dogs, beetles - what else can you see?

The boys have had fantastic feedback so far - one person said it made them feel safer, and another was spotted taking a photo of his car against the painted backdrop!

We hope to involve School and community groups to help with some of the decoration in the coming weeks. And the project might even have some musical elements - you'll just have to wait and see.

Watching paint dry


A & N excitedly open a tin of 'black' paint only to find that it's 'birch'!


View from the Scrapstore window over the barriers

Yes it is ok to draw on walls... sometimes!

What would you do if over 60 people turned up and spontaneously started drawing all over your walls? You probably wouldn't be very happy would you! Well, on Saturday 6th October we invited people to do just that, celebrating the Big Draw on the hoardings in East Cowes.

Artists, Scribblers and Doodlers of all ages spent the day creating a Fantasy Town and before long a weird and wonderful land and its inhabitants appeared - fairy castles, tree houses, houses supported by hot air balloons, space ships, a fantasy football stadium and our very own Cloud Town!

Artist Birgitte Haar Lund was on hand to help participants realise their fantasy dwellings, providing stencils, pencils, marker pens, crayons and chalks to draw directly onto the wooden hoardings, a huge roll of paper and onto the pavement itself. The finished piece can be seen near St James’ Church in Church Lane.

The Big Draw is part of the Campaign for Drawing which has one simple aim: to get everyone drawing. The Big Draw is an annual October showpiece, proving that drawing can be a public activity as well as a private passion. 1000 venues across the UK, from great national institutions to village halls, regularly join in to offer people of all ages the chance to discover that drawing is enjoyable, liberating and at everyone's fingertips.

The Campaign was inspired by the great Victorian writer and visionary, John Ruskin. His mission was not to teach people to draw, but how to see. Each Big Draw season brings fresh opportunities to discover how drawing can connect us to our environment and heritage.

The event was free and organised in partnership by Island 2000 Trust and Quay Arts. The Trust would like to thank everyone who took part and made this event such a great success.

Welcome to the New Forest!

While many of you may believe that the New Forest is part of Hampshire, Island 2000 can now reveal that it now resides in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight! Please DO NOT feed the ponies !

‘New Forest’ is a new painting project that you won’t be able to miss on the blue hoardings of Well Road in East Cowes. Working with Cowes based artist Tim Johnson this project is one of a series co-ordinated and commissioned by Island 2000 to soften the environmental impact of the long-term installation of blue hoardings around the town’s development areas.

Of the project Tim explains :
“ I was really excited to work on a large painting project like this – my brief to make something eye-catching, colourful and relevant to the location.

During the work I am doing on another No Barrier’s project - photographically documenting inside the barriers, I discovered a lovely selection of derelict gardens and non native garden trees such as Eucalyptus, Cordaline and Blue Spruces.

New Forest imaginatively depicts these hidden treasures whilst also referring to the new developments to come. Architects and designers frequently use graphic icons representing idealised trees in their models and plans. Similarly my trees – colourful and perhaps native to children’s books and textile lands, express a desire for a greener future”

Above: Spider helps out

Above: Tim's feet at work

Of the project............

Ian Boyd of Island 2000 says………….”it’s lovely”
Jo Johnson of Island 2000 says………..”it’s lovely”
Hannah Birks of Island 2000 says……..”it’s really lovely”.

Meanwhile during the initial stages of planting up the New Forest public responses have been overwhelming – drive-by shoutings, men on bicycles stopping to chat, buses diverting their scheduled routes and even children pausing to say “it’s nice”.

Over the coming days the trees will grow trunks and settle in with a bit of Island 2000 nurture - take a wander and see for yourself!

If you would like to see more pictures as this project unfolds check out Tim's flickr page at www.flickr.com/photos/timstring/

Miracle Grow

Proof, if needed, that nature can survive in the most urban of settings as two magnificent bushes have blossomed on a roundabout in East Cowes.

Go with the floe

What's this? A demonstration of how life in East Cowes could be if polar ice-caps continue to melt? A budget reproduction of 'Titanic'? No - it's the next stage in the East Cowes
No Barriers project taking shape. Look out for these forms fixed to the blue hoardings in coming weeks (possibly not Jo and Hannah).

'The Big Draw' in East Cowes

What is 'behind the barriers'???

As part of the 'No Barriers' project we've commissioned artist and photographer Tim Johnson to take a look 'behind the barriers'. Over the past couple of months Tim has been exploring the special qualities of a 'no go zone', a large plot of land left behind for nature to re-colonise, before the re-development of East Cowes claims it back.

Tim comments:
"I'm fascinated by the way nature is creeping back over the relics and remains of human habitation and industry. Although I'm a resident of Cowes I don't know the area contained before its transformation - so I'm coming with fresh eyes wondering what the rubble and remains once were. Garden steps up to missing conservatories, park benches with no one to sit and car parks empty of vehicles forever.

Scrambling native brambles collaborate with escaping garden roses against a backdrop of crushed rubble and cracked paving. Wild Carrot and Lamb's Ears decorate a miniature roundabout - the floral combinations presenting a curious botanical landscape speaking of its own history."

After working digitally for several years Tim has returned to using film for this project. Using a recently acquired medium format camera Tim is enjoying the slowness of the activitiy and the concentration and focus required.

Tim's photographs will be presented to the public on the Barriers revealing the hidden contained landscapes. To find out more about Tim Johnson's work visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timstring/collections/

Social Morey's

Spring is making itself felt in East Cowes and the No Barriers team is now in engaged in a race with the trees and flowers to put on the most attractive show of colour and artistry. Most of the art panels put up on the blue hoardings last year are still looking bright and cheerful enough despite the elements, but a few have been ruined in a spate of vandalism. We decided to fix this damage as soon as possible by replacing the broken panels with pieces of plywood painted in bright colours. We had the paint, we had the volunteers, but we didn't have the wood. Happily, Ron Bowler of Morey's Timber Merchants in Newport offered to help us out. Not only did Morey's supply the wood, but they cut all the panels to size and delivered them the next day, all free of charge - so many thanks to them! We have already completed the first coats of paint and hope to have the boards put up in the next few days.

Graffiti a go go!

We’ve got some new graffiti on the blue hoardings in East Cowes.

I know what you’re thinking… graffiti eh – the underground, often covert activity of youths in ‘hoodies’ and/or baseball caps?? Well scratch that, and please let’s not reinforce stereotypes at this early stage!

So, on Saturday 17th February we invited over a group of professional graffiti artists called Somnio (www.somnio.co.uk) to create a new painting on the blue boards. Somnio is an art collective which has been formed to bring together like-minded creatives. This piece can be seen in the Church Path area near the disused Bethel Church, which is adjacent to Well Road.

For those of you who don’t know, this was part of No Barriers (NB), an ongoing project run by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and Island 2000 Trust. Over the past year or so we’ve been gradually turning the hoardings into an outside community gallery space for all to enjoy. See www.nobarriers.org.uk for details of the projects so far.

Lead by Duncan Newland and Stuart Bedford, the Somnio artists set to work early in the morning, bringing with them a vast array of sketches, designs, stencils, and err… paint! They worked on individual parts of the boards discussing and critiquing each others work along the way.

The resulting artwork displays figurative imagery with more decorative, organic forms, shapes, patterns and motifs. It also combines bold and graphic styles with looser, painterly techniques. The frame motif gives a feeling of continuity without controlling the individual artists’ styles. Hmmm, can you tell I used to work in art gallery?

The activities of the day created quite a stir along Church Path site – some people avoided it, and some embraced it, asking questions about what was going on. The general feedback was very positive indeed. Two girls were heard to say: “They’ve made it look really cool down here now.” That’s more like it!

We hope to do more work with Somnio in the future. And hope that this will open the door to other NB creative activities and artistic opportunities along the way.

Photography by Ian Boyd and Tim Johnson. See more of Tim's graffiti photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/64473370@N00/