CRACKING ROOF IDEA
WALLACE & GROMIT ART TO AID CLASSIC CINEMA
WALLACE and Gromit are to be painted on the roof tiles of Clevedon’s Curzon Cinema as part of an innovative fundraising art auction.
Nick Park of Aardman Animations is to paint the characters on old tiles of the cinema as part of fundraising Art on the Tiles auction.
Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton will be joining him in creating a Morph tile, with other Aardman directors, artists and celebrities who will paint, sculpt, draw or doodle onto a vintage tile lifted off the cinema’s huge roof.
The tiles, made in a local brickworks in the 1920s, will be sold online in a week-long auction ending on December 8.
Money raised will go to the drive to raise £600,000 to repair the leaking roof of the cinema.
Fundraising campaign manager Karen Edgington said: “This is a wonderfully quirky art auction and is a chance for people to own a piece of memorabilia from one of the world’s oldest continuously running cinemas.
“Many of the tiles will be on the theme of some favourite films.”
Bosses at the Grade II listed Curzon Cinema launched an appeal earlier this year to raise the cash to repair the roof.
The appeal has attracted a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £239,000.
It is hoped to start work to repair the roof early in the New Year.
The Curzon, which opened in 1912, is one of the oldest independently run cinemas in the UK.
But the roof continues to leak, with buckets being dotted around the picture house to collect the drips.
The problems with the roof reached crisis point in December, when water started to come in through the auditorium.
Karen said: “We urgently need to restore the roof. As well as major reconstruction, all of the old tiles will be replaced with 12,833 new tiles.”
Aardman’s David Sproxton said: “When you go to the cinema to enjoy a film and to get out of the cold and rain, the last thing you want is that rain to land in your lap.
“So raising money for a new roof for this wonderful and historic cinema using the old tiles is a brilliant idea and we are delighted to be involved.”
Susannah Shaw, CEO at the Curzon, said “We are very grateful to our patrons at Aardman who have given us fantastic support in this campaign and are excited to see the results of their work and that of other generous artists and celebrities who have offered their time to help save our roof.”
For more information about the Curzon’s fundraising plans contact campaign@curzon.org.uk or go to www.curzon.org.uk/heritage/ donations.