Newcastle estate gets creative

A public art project is helping residents give a housing estate in Newcastle a makeover inspired by its name.

Community regeneration specialist Frank Haslam Milan (FHM) North East is currently carrying out a major refurbishment of around 61 homes as part of the first phase of development at Pottery Bank for Your Homes Newcastle (YHN).

As part of the scheme the two organisations, along with architects Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall and Newcastle City Council, have teamed up with artist Susheila Jamieson who will work with residents on the estate to add the finishing touches to the project.

Susheila Jamieson, who is from Scotland, will create a series of large scale mosaics from cracked pottery to be displayed as public art.

She said: “The community seems to be really behind the project.

“The idea is that the finished mosaics can be built into streets, walkways or even peoples driveways.

“We want as many people as possible to get involved in the project, from young children to pensioners.”

An open day to introduce the plans to residents has proved popular with dozens of people attending. A series of workshops to create the artwork are now being held at the Thomas Gaughan Community Centre.

A session for children and parents will be held on Wednesday, 2 February, from 3.00pm to 5.00pm, with a session for adults running from 11.00am to 1.00pm on Thursday, 3 February.

Further events to encourage people to get involved in the project are being planned for the coming weeks.

Jackie Carey, lead resident liaison officer for FHM, said: “We’re always looking for ways to work with the community on regeneration schemes, especially where major developments are being carried out such as Pottery Bank.

“We want to make sure that people feel part of the project, and show that we want to listen to them and work with them wherever we can.”
Lynn Waters, project manager for YHN, added: “The residents of Pottery Bank have embraced the opportunity to get involved in the Art project and are eager to see their design ideas being used on the mosaics”