Collaborative Mural to Honour the Queens Platinum Jubilee, designed & painted by the community of Hardingstone in Northampton.
The Project
In the parish of Hardingstone, it's been a long time since an event was organised specifically for lots of different people to get together and build new social networks; this is particularly important at this period of significant change and expansion of the village.
The Hardingstone Platinum Jubilee MurALL is a project for the whole community to collaborate and create a legacy artwork during this special year, which will significantly enhance the ugly breeze block boundary wall of the largest public outdoor space in our village: 'the Rec'. All are welcome to participate in the co-design and painting sessions, to create the 70 metre long MurALL in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The MurALL will depict the highlights of the Queen's 70-year reign, in addition to our hopes and aspirations for the planet and our community for the next 70 years. Everyone in the local community of Hardingstone who would like to participate is invited to join in during this summer.
The project will be led by Nicki Blanchard, an international muralist, teacher of ethical participatory muralism and author of “The Cure-All MurALL” handbook. The design will be painted with Lakeland paints, a British, eco-friendly paint company.
Nicki will be leading co-design sessions throughout June, and some painting sessions in July and August. If you are interested in joining the co-designing and/or painting of the MurALL, please email [email protected].
Over16s interested in volunteering to lead painting sessions when Nicki cannot be here are also needed - please get in touch!
The Funding
Nicki's expertise has been secured thanks to a grant from the NCF Constance Tavis Endowment Fund for Northamptonshire. For more information about Nicki's MurALL process, see details below.
It is for the cost of the paint, sealant, brushes, buckets, cloths and sundry other materials that we need to raise funds. To paint the full 70 metres, these costs will total c.£2,000.
If our fundraising exceeds this amount, Nicki will be able to spend more time in Hardingstone to supervise different teams of painters during the summer, enabling more people to benefit from her talents and produce a first-class artwork.
A completion ceremony to publicly thank the designers, painters and sponsors for their contributions to the project is planned for September. Sufficient funds will ensure this is a truly uplifting experience for the everyone to share, building painters' personal confidence and pride in their community for transforming this shared public space. Please help to make this a party to remember!
All donations will be most gratefully received by the Supporters of St Edmund's, the charity that is co-ordinating this project on behalf of the many Hardingstone Organisations Together ('HOT') groups.
However, in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and 70 years of service, we are suggesting three tiers of sponsorship:
£7 BRONZE SPONSOR: your contribution helps us buy 7 paintbrushes or a couple of buckets.
£70 SILVER SPONSOR: your contribution purchases 5l of eco-friendly paint, and your name/logo will be included in the design
£700 GOLD SPONSOR: your contribution will provide 50l of eco-friendly paint and helps facilitate the painting process. Your name/logo will be included will be included in the MurALL title as a permanent acknowledgement, and more.....
To discuss sponsorship and possible team-building opportunities, please email [email protected]. Thank you.
The Process for his massive project is as follows:
1. Co-Design; 2.Colouring Book; 3.Colour-by-Numbers
1. Co-Design session(s) with the Community: Via a custom worksheet for community members to contribute their ideas about what would be best for the space, Co-designing with community members allows Nicki to collect invaluable information upon which she can build a design. The worksheet includes both drawing and writing prompts, and can be delivered in a group, either in person or online via zoom, or emailed to do on ones own. If time allows, community members are then asked to share their ideas so they can brainstorm together. Through the co-design process they will determine the colours, text and images of the mural: what colours would be best for the functionality of the space based on colour psychology? what message do we want to convey to viewers in the space? and what images would be most educational and/or therapeutic for the viewers in the space? For these Co-Design sessions an accessibility consultant from The Accessibility Project, oversees the process to ensure we are advocating for and including all members of the community.
2. Creating a Colouring book Design: Based on the co-design session(s) Nicki designs a MurALL mock-up that allows all community members to feel they contributed to the design. It is imperative that the community feels it is their mural: This creates a sense of ownership over the project, boost in morale in the community, and increase in civic pride. The MurALL is designed like a giant colouring book, so that all members of the community can help paint by simply colouring in the lines, and there is no barrier for entry based on skill level. The mock-up is created to scale, and then transferred it to the wall by drawing clear outlines.
3. Colour-by-Numbers: The colour scheme for the design is determined in our co-design session, and a colour code is created that everyone can follow. This allows for seamless collaboration with large groups of painters working together at the same time. Each colour has a code, and each shape is coded with the proper colour, and each paint pot has the colour code written on it. Painters are able to choose what colour they want to work with and paint the shapes that are meant to be that colour.
We use Lakeland paints, which is a local, eco-friendly, odourless, non-toxic, vegan, VOC free and carbon neutral paint, but most importantly, healthy for all of the painters and the environment. Learn more about Lakeland paints here:
https://www.lakelandpaints.co.uk
A completion ceremony to publicly thank the designers, painters and sponsors for their contributions to the project is organised when the MurALL is complete. This is a truly uplifting experience for the everyone to share, building painters' personal confidence and pride in their community for transforming the shared space.
For more information, please see...
Nicki Blanchard's Mural & MurALL Portfolio here: https://nickideux.portfoliobox.net/muralcollaborations
Colouring Spaces Mural Company website here: https://www.colouringspaces.org
The Cure-All MurALL handbook here: https://issuu.com/cureallmurall/docs/cureallmurallissu
Nicki's UAL Graduate showcase here: https://graduateshowcase.arts.ac.uk/projects/313330/cover
This project successfully funded on 6th July 2022