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East Cowes Celebrates Through Art
19 December 2005
 An innovative and exciting art project 'No Barriers' that was set up to involve the community of East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, in capturing a vision of the town through photography, drawing, painting, and stories, has proved to be a huge success so far, with over 500 contributions being presented to organisers, the Island 2000 Trust.
Residents, ranging in age from five to 88 and from all walks of life, have taken the time to document their feelings, thoughts and ideas of how they see their town's past, present and future on colourful postcard sized displays. The artwork, all of which is currently being exhibited at the North Medina Community Development Trust's office in East Cowes, will be used to create an outside community gallery that will celebrate the town and its people.
Artwork that has been produced by the community of East Cowes, now on display at Bridge House in East Cowes To encourage children to take part in the project, 'No Barriers' has been working with the East Cowes Primary School and the Osborne Middle School on a series of workshops. Some 200 children from East Cowes Primary have now visited the site where the gallery will be displayed, as well as some of the town's landmarks for inspiration.
East Cowes Primary School Teacher, Jan Gardener commented: "The children have really enjoyed being involved at the start of the 'No Barriers' project and have risen to the challenge of creating vibrant and distinctive art work for the open air gallery. They are thrilled to have their work on public display and can't wait to see which pictures are going to be enlarged.
"A number of them saw the bulldozers at work during the demolition and are curious to see how things are going to change in the town. The children would like to see more and more images added to the gallery, making East Cowes really stand out. Following the success of the drawing projects, the school are hoping to create some text inspired work and also some 3D sculptures."
But it's not just children that the project is trying to reach. Anybody, either individuals or groups, of any age range and with any artistic ability can take part in this venture that aims to break down the barriers to art and allow people to express their feelings about their environment.
Children from East Cowes Primary School visit the waterfront at East Cowes to get inspiration for their artwork To launch the project, 30 of the best and most colourful of the images will be selected, enlarged, framed and displayed on blue hoarding around the East Cowes Project site. The artists and the public will be invited to see the gallery at an event to be held on Saturday, 28th January. Plans are to change out the images on a regular basis to create a rolling exhibition of public art.
And this is just the start. With enough artwork and contributions from the public, the project could grow and grow, with more and more art being exhibited throughout East Cowes. Not only will this provide a temporary exhibition for present day viewing, it will capture the thoughts and ideas of a whole generation of East Cowes residents that can be kept for the future.
An East Cowes Primary School pupil draws on the history of East Cowes for the No Barriers project Island Trust 2000, with support from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) on behalf of its Cowes Waterfront partners (English Partnerships, the Isle of Wight Council and the Isle of Wight Economic Partnership) will be continuing to target youth groups and community organisations to capture as many images as possible. There are also plans to extend the project to include sculptures, poems and stories.
If you would like to take part in this unique project, visit the exhibition at Bridge House between 10am and 2pm, Monday to Friday or call 01983 822118.
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