15/01/2009
A range of creative, community art works reflecting local landmarks and history will be unveiled throughout New Mossley, January 17th, as Dawn Purvis, MLA, and members of the community celebrate the New Mossley Re-Imaging Project, funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
£16,590, part of the Arts Council’s £3 million Re-imaging Communities Programme (on behalf of the Shared Communities Consortium), was awarded to the New Mossley Community Group for the ‘New Image, New Mossley Project’ in June 2008.
 Completed mural, New Mossley Re-imaging project.  |
Commenting on the Project, Roisín McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council and Chair of the Shared Communities Consortium said “Art has a key role to play in promoting community cohesion and regeneration by building confidence, skills and helping people to live and work together. This project enabled the development and re-imaging of the whole estate, allowing the community to become involved in and enjoy the arts, while celebrating local history and significant landmarks.
Martin McClure’s involvement, as a professional artist, helped to promote art, putting it at the heart of the community. The whole project has provided an opportunity for the Re-Imaging Communities Programme to support the vision of local people, as they take steps to provide a more welcoming environment and give all the participants something to feel proud of.”
Building on a number of successful community projects with the Housing Executive, Groundwork NI and the Northern Neighbourhoods Health Action Zone, the New Mossley Community Group wanted to improve their estate, at the entry and shops and to remove territorial markings and graffiti. Much of the new art work was developed through artist Martin McClure working with the local residents’ group, along with young people from the area, football clubs and church groups. The re-imaging mosaic depicts Mossley Mill, 50 years old in 2008; Lillian Bland, the first woman to fly solo (1910); Pattersons Spade Mill; images from World War I and references to local youth groups
Jack Shaw, Chairperson of Mossley Community Group and participant in the project described their experiences, saying “This re-imaging project was built on a lot of previous work, over many years, which lead to all of the community realising that the changes were necessary for the benefit and future of the estate. The community appreciated this as it gave everyone an opportunity to contribute creatively to the identity of their estate through art. What has been created by the programme locally is more than just an external image or mosaic, the real and lasting benefit to those who were involved is the discovery of a past and a new cultural and artistic awareness for the future”.
