See Here!

I have now completed two engagement sessions in the City Arcade and both have gone well. It's been great to meet people and get them involved in something creative; taking a few minutes out their day to stop, look around them, and draw something. 

Although it's always nice to find artists and creatives who come and take part, it's most rewarding to connect to the people who don't usually do this sort of thing and yet really seem to get something out of it. I approached an older couple in their 70s, and (I think to the wife's surprise) the man seemed quite eager to have a go. He hadn't drawn since he was in school and yet I could tell there was a natural flare and ability within him by the way he held the pen and started his piece. My hope would be that people find, develop or rekindle a creative spark within them through this simple interactive project.

People have generally been 'tracing' the Arcade through the window. (It helps to have one eye closed!). It's fun to see what parts of the space they are drawn to. One person who was using a yellow pen decided to only draw the yellow things they could see. Some have tried reimagining the space - adding something to the scene that they would like to see more of perhaps - plants, funky floor designs, even giant cats (!).  

I have been showing print-outs of what the Arcade used to look like in the early 1960s at Christmas (see below) and that has really captured the attention of a lot of people and generated some interesting discussion. People have been amazed to see these images - an Arcade full of people, light, and shop-fronts/signs that matched beautifully and uniformly. I created the sign for my window mimicking those old pictures. It's called 'See Here' because I wanted the window to be about sight - to offer people an opportunity to see the Arcade in a new way, not to just walk through it.