Street smart!
Makeover for busy walkway
ARTISTS have given a busy street a makeover as the city centre gets back to business.
Clough Street, in Hanley, has now been transformed with colourful murals.
As part of Stoke-on-trent City Centre BID’S Operation Sparkle, graffiti has been cleaned off buildings and the art works painted in their place.
Stoke-on-trent City Centre BID Manager Richard Buxton hopes that the new art will increase interest in the area.
He said: “With 87 per cent of Hanley businesses in the BID area strongly agreeing that an improved look and feel should be prioritised for the city centre, Operation Sparkle is a real priority for us, and the BID’S business plan centres around many street art initiatives to bring this vision to reality.
“The development on Clough Street is just one of the projects lined up to not only provide a much more attractive trading environment, but also to showcase the talent we have here in the city.
“As it is located in such a busy walkway, we hope that visitors, as well as city centre employees and residents, enjoy the new artwork that they walk away with a fresh new perspective on the city centre.”
Stoke-on-trent City
Centre BID are working with Piccadilly-based creative agency We Are
Culla and British artist Teaone to give the former Rockermans furniture store a facelift.
As the location was once a goods depot for the London, Midland Scottish Railway, and is also one of a few original buildings that remains in the city centre from over a century ago, artist Teaone has paid homage with a scene loosely connected to the city’s rich rail heritage across the front of the building.
Rob Fenton and Tom Edwards, co-owners of We Are Culla, think that street art is an effective, innovative and modern way to enhance the streetscape.
Rob said: “My main aim in all of the work I do is to help the city of Stoke-on-trent grow and evolve, so it’s great that We Are Culla’s aims align with the BID’S plans and we can work together to improve the look and feel of the area through new artwork, more of which is in the pipeline.”
Tom added: “Our city is a breeding ground for creativity and innovation and so it makes total sense to showcase this in a colourful and accessible way for all audiences to enjoy.
“We’re honoured to have Teaone on board – a key player in the street art world – to bring our combined vision with the BID to reality.”
As well as the work on the former Rockermans store, the unit closest to Tesco’s car park has also been enhanced by local artist and wildlife photographer James Rogerson.
The unit’s brickwork now proudly wears a cityscape scene in Spode blue, which pays homage to the city’s wildlife and heritage.
James said: “I have been photographing the wildlife around the city for some years and wanted to highlight the importance of Stoke-on-trent’s green – and not so green – spaces. They are often surprisingly rich in biodiversity, from kingfishers and otters along our waterways, to the peregrines that soar over the concrete cliffs of our city centre.
“For my mural, I have run with a design that nods towards the pottery industry as many of the old industry sites are also some of the best wildlife spots we have in Stoke-on-trent.
“I hope that by reminding people of this, there will be a greater appreciation of what we have here and that hopefully we can do our best to make space for wildlife alongside future developments for all our benefit.”