Taking the Scenic Route – Artist Residency
Majestic viaducts, dark tunnels, ancient mill ruins, shady wooded groves… LCC’s new sustainable transport plan is linking up stretches of disused railway into off-road greenways, and offers some brilliant opportunities for creative work. MPA’s project The Scenic Route is a pilot programme of artist interventions, and this artist commission in spring 2016 is an important step forwards.
We are delighted to have commissioned the Teesdale based Steve Messam for an artist residency during March and April 2016, to explore the terrain and to develop unifying creative ideas for two key Pennine Lancashire routes.
Steve Messam is a brilliant artist with whom we have worked on several previous occasions. Many of his major projects have been developed for Cumbria and the Lake District, but he works internationally, as far afield as Shanghai, and remote Swedish islands. His website and blog are well worth a visit.
For MPA, Steve made a key contribution to our 2012 conference, Art of Destination, and in 2014 we commissioned the spectacular Fairhaven Bubbles in Lytham when the British Open golf tournament came to town.
Steve’s residency will not produce any immediate art works. Rather, we want the artist’s work to inform and inspire our thinking and planning for the longer term development of the programme, which we expect to unfold over the next two or three years.
We have asked him to investigate a number of different aspects: key locations and opportunities for future artist commissions, but also ideas about unifying elements like surface treatments, lighting and interpretation of heritage, as well as ideas for branding, naming and signage.
His findings will also help us develop our exciting companion project, Spodden Valley Revealed, which over three years will develop an innovative heritage trail for the stretch of route through the Whitworth area.
Steve’s explorations of the two routes are documented in the images here and in a fuller selection shared on Flickr. You can dip into more of his evocative images there.
If you want to get involved in The Scenic Route or have an interest in the development of the routes, we would love to hear from you. Contact Nick Hunt or Shonagh Ingram at MPA.
The Scenic Route is made possible by support from Arts Council England, through Grants for the Arts, and from Lancashire County Council.
