In this decade I became increasingly involved with the community of the town of Wolverhampton and with\u00a0the community of youngish artists in Birmingham who formed Birmingham Artists Group (BAG, which was disbanded in 1996). BAG also formed\u00a0the Birmingham Print Workshop, which celebrated its 30th\u00a0anniversary in 2013, now\u00a0renamed\u00a0as ‘Birmingham Printmakers’.<\/p>\n
In 1985 Wolverhampton celebrated its millennium. At that time,\u00a0the town seemed to me to lack pride in its Victorian\u00a0townscape,\u00a0being almost entirely bereft of commercially available\u00a0representations of its architecture or of its fine public sculpture. As the frenzy around the Millennial event grew, I decided to make a series of hand-finished prints of four\u00a0public artworks:\u00a0the Saxon column, believed to be carved from a Roman column,\u00a0the\u00a0equestrian memorial\u00a0sculpture of\u00a0Prince Albert, unveiled by Queen Victoria in 1862, Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s statue of Lady Wulfrun, and a large\u00a0mosaic at the\u00a0shoppers’\u00a0entrance\u00a0to the Wulfrun Centre, depicting the town’s\u00a0foundation\u00a0by Royal\u00a0Charter\u00a0presented to Lady Wulfrun\u00a0in 985 AD.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of 1985, the town’s\u00a0Tourist Information centre asked me what I was planning for them for\u00a0the next year, and I turned my attention to outstanding buildings in the Borough (nowadays City) of Wolverhampton. Thus began a new series of\u00a0topographical prints\u00a0on white card which I hand-finished in watercolour.\u00a0A few\u00a0accused me of ‘prostituting my art’, but I\u00a0justified these projects as a valid response by an artist to the needs of\u00a0his community.<\/p>\n
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including the\u00a0mouldering Queen’s Building of the early railway and the boarded up “Molineux Hotel”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this decade I became increasingly involved with the community of the town of Wolverhampton and with\u00a0the community of youngish artists in Birmingham who formed Birmingham Artists Group (BAG, which was disbanded in 1996). BAG also formed\u00a0the Birmingham Print Workshop, … Continue reading