Karen Allerton arts
Community and Public Artist Karen Allerton, working in partnership with Stockport Youth Offending Service and Public Health to create Stockport Art Trail 3.
This is the 3rd art project with our young people, we have developed this project, based on the feedback gathered in the previous trails. The young people expressed an interest in being involved in more physical, hands on processes and specifically mentioned that they would like to do something that they had never experienced before.
Stockport Art Trail 3 has a number of different outcomes, from Urban Art through to decorative ironwork, all of which have been created by local young people. The wider community have been involved through consultation and design and have contributed stories of their experiences of living and working in the area that have inspired the artworks.
Young people have worked in collaboration with both a local artist and a local blacksmith to create a number of functional artworks that celebrate the areas strong links to both the forged and cast iron trades.
The artworks focus on industry, pattern and nature.
STOCKPORT ART TRAIL 3
Cast Iron Foundries were a major employer in Stockport. Needhams foundry was located on the route of the trail and employed many people local to the area, and was still producing cast iron locally up until the late 1970’s.
The project aimed to explore the methods and processes behind the fabrication of cast and wrought iron objects and to encourage an interest in the skills and craftsmanship of previous generations.
The young people have been involved in the research aspect of the project, looking into the history of Needhams, focusing mainly on their production of manhole covers, which are distributed throughout the country and abroad.
Intergenerational workshops were an opportunity for the young people to share their newly found knowledge with local residents and work together towards the creation of designs that were used to create the patterns for a series of cast iron elements.
Funded by the Heritage Lottery and OPCC.
