Gallery with no roof brings life and colour to historic lanes
New street artworks unveiled
Newcastle’s street art portfolio has expanded with new additions to its urban gallery as it extends further from Forth Lane onto adjoining Pink Lane.
You’ll find a leopard and a mouse have joined the tigers and other wonders already emblazoned across the walls… and one dark alley now mimics a colourful woodland glade.
Rain or shine, there’s no denying things are more interesting at pavement level in these lanes around Newcastle Arts Centre that trace ancient pedestrian thoroughfares off Westgate Road.
The new artworks mark the latest phase in the drive to brighten up this characterful corner of the city.
Driving the initiative is Creative Central NCL, funded by the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council to realise the potential identified in a defined creative zone to the west of the city centre.
Some Government ‘levelling up’ money from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund has also gone in to the Pink Lane improvements in which NE1, the city’s business improvement district, has also played a part.
More than just beautifying the public realm, the hope is that revitalising the area will generate employment opportunities. But there’s no denying it presents a more appealing face to locals and visitors.
And for that we have creatives like Bobzilla, Cack Handed Kid, VanGoth and Mark One87 to thank. (In this artistic outdoor realm, the names – or tags – are as colourful as what’s produced.)
Entering Pink Lane now from the top end, near Pink Lane Bakery, you’re greeted by that leopard, languorously posing in a window painted above a sign saying Pink Lane Arcade.
It’s the work of Lara whose artist name is Keeper of Kitsune (Kitsune being the name of her dog) and she makes sculptures, prints and stencil works inspired by mythology, fantasy creatures and folklore.
She used to work in a Newcastle cat café which is soon to become an art gallery, she told me at the official unveiling, and is also studying animal management at East Durham College.
“It’s very fitting for me that I got to do a leopard,” she said. “I was very happy about that.”
The arcade theme, inspired by Newcastle’s Central Arcade where history and 21st Century retail converge, was devised by Mark One87 and VanGoth who recruited suitable artists.
Lara, who works with VanGoth (fellow stencil artist, aka Shane) as Vanguard Gallery, said this was easily her most prominent street art creation so far.
“There was a nail bar nearby so that’s why the leopard’s hanging out of the window with its little claws out,” she explained.
“It’s waiting to get its nails painted.”
Having enjoyed her mural experience, she said: “I’ve got the itch for it and I really want to do more.
“Everyone walking by seemed to enjoy it too. A little kid showed a drawing he’d done so that was really cute.”
That’s a word several people used to describe Immy’s contribution to the Pink Lane Arcade, Immy being Imogen Clarke, graduate (first class honours) of the Northern School of Art
While street art can be loud and lairy, her pretty little mouse florist looks as if it’s stepped from a children’s picture book.
“It took two days to paint on the wall but loads of people were asking for photos,” she said as the rain fell from a cheerless grey sky.
You can see Immy’s work in various North East locations – there’s a large one in Sunniside, Sunderland – but this, she said, was her first in Newcastle.
Nearby is the alley transformed by Toby Heaps, an experienced street art and graffiti practitioner who responded enthusiastically to his landscape brief.
“I love the idea of light coming through trees,” he said, recalling recent trips to Thornley Wood, near Rowlands Gill.
“My first effort here was a bit dark so I played with the colour wheel and messed around with paint to make the place a bit more inviting to walk through.
“I tried to make it as bright, fun and cheerful as possible.
“The lovely thing about doing these outside is all the people you get to talk to. You always get their opinions and they’ll tell you about the history and everything that’s going on.
“You end up feeling part of the community. Of course, you always get some adverse comments but I’d much rather people express their opinions.”
Anthony Downie has painted a new Pink Lane mural and Mark One87’s work graces the walls of the Chinese Christian Church. The Mosaic Tap watering hole now boasts a striking mural by SHELDO (aka Laura Sheldon) who also has work on Forth Lane.
Bobzilla has embellished the entrance to Pink Lane Coffee and overhead at both ends, as ‘gateway installations’, are the ribbon and lighting effects created by the Raskl art and architecture studio for MawsonKerr Architects.
There were launch day speeches at Newcastle Arts Centre where Streets Alive, an exhibition celebrating the urban galleries, was entering its final days.
Amid all the thankyous it became clear just how complex a process it is, bringing colour and cohesion to an area full of history and with a multitude of vested interests.
But it seems to have come together nicely.
Mike Tilley, founding director of Newcastle Arts Centre, has seen the good and the bad of this part of the city and can reflect on other well-meaning initiatives whose effects have not proved long-lasting.
To this latest initiative, though, he gave his blessing.
“We have been happy to be involved in bringing colour and civic pride to these once tired and neglected lanes and take pleasure in seeing that the artwork is now well respected by those with spray cans who have regarded it as their territory,” he said.
It does appear that these artworks have escaped the attentions of those who seem to take pleasure in defacing such things.
But several of the artists alluded to the special coatings that provide some level of protection and Mike Tilley and his team have also been vigilant.
Vikki Leaney, Creative Central NCL project manager, looked brightly to the future.
“There are still some artworks to come but we feel what’s happened here will continue evolving long after our project is complete,” she said.
“That’s the ultimate goal really, a testament to the creative impact of art in the public realm.”