Healthy Streets, Stockton-on-Tees
Public art as catalyst for change
There was a crowd gathering on Hardwick Road. The wall, previously bare, was turning into a celebration of the community. It started with kids from the local youth club grabbing paintbrushes to help a couple of artists with their mural and, before long, it had a group of passers-by stopping to see what was going on.
“Eeeh, that little lad on his bike reminds me of my grandson,” said one. “He used to come out of the nursery, jump on his bike and put his legs out like that to go down the steps.” Suddenly, a corner of Stockton that might be hard to love, tucked away behind a struggling shopping arcade, had a focal point. And people were responding.
Artists Harriet Mee and Hazel Oakes (who works as Nocciola the Drawer) created the Hardwick Road mural and its counterpart at Newtown Community Centre. The work is part of Stockton Borough Council’s Healthy Streets initiative, aimed at making the local environment better for residents’ physical and mental health. After workshops with the community, the artists started weaving that feedback into a pair of eye-catching works.
“They wanted colour and life,” Harriet said. “It makes it feel safer, and in particular it embodies what the children want for their streets.
“It’s about a sense that people care. And, at Hardwick Road, it’s about celebrating what people love in their communities.”
‘People wanted colour and life’
At the start of the process, public art was not a priority for many.
“When we started speaking with people, they wanted better security, better street lighting. It moved from being health focussed to being safety focussed,” Harriet added.
“The mural at Newtown became something about children’s aspirations for the area. They didn’t like the litter, the parked cars. It was about how there was no colour, it was all really dull and grey, there weren’t any trees.
“It’s interesting that it goes right back to those basic needs – safety, greenery, a clean environment. People felt they were missing all of those things, so the top bit of that pyramid of needs, where we’re talking about starting a running club or whatever, we’re not there yet.
“To start with, people wanted colour and life in the area to make it safer and also to embody what the children wanted for their area and their community.”
With its cosmic theme, the Newtown mural certainly reaches for the stars. But its swirls and curves also reflect the work that the community centre does.
“One of the youth leaders is a musician,” Hazel said. “He brought some instruments along and one person sharing his passion really inspired the kids. Now they’re starting a whole music program.”
That ripple effect seeped into the design of the mural.
“That’s why there are so many waves and curves,” Harriet added. “One person’s passion means now we have five kids playing piano who might never have had the opportunity. It’s about that kind ebb and flow from one person to another, building each other up.”
‘The whole process shows love and care in the area’
But does it matter? How can an artwork enhance a community, particularly in a town like Stockton, which is regularly referenced as a centre for urban decline? For Harriet and Hazel, it’s about reinforcing a sense that somebody cares.
“It’s that pride in a place, people see that we’re working here for multiple days,” Hazel said. “We spend a lot of hours here and put a lot of love into what we’re doing. The whole process shows that this is part of a community and there is love and care in the area.
“People always worry that it will just get damaged, but usually it’s adults who are expecting kids to cause trouble. It’s like trying to project a sense that young people will ruin it, that we can’t have nice things. But I think when you paint in public spaces you get the opposite: kids are curious, they’re asking how, why, who commissioned it. It’s very much for them, not for us as artists.”
That was very evident at Hardwick when the local youth group joined in with a painting session. Amid the excitement of using spray cans – legitimately and with full adult approval – the kids were also fascinated
‘We just want people to look at it and experience joy’
Murals and public artwork are relatively new to Stockton. Harriet describes the town as a “blank canvas” and hopes that this summer’s BIG Art festival can help to splash some colour across that empty space.
That festival left a legacy across town: Nocciola the Drawer’s work in the courtyard outside the Georgian Theatre, a colourful abstract piece by Charlie Mupenga at the junction of Dovecote Street and Prince Regent Street, and Harriet’s own “guardian angel” with its message encouraging change right outside ARC, plus a host of workshops and exhibitions.
“The BIG Art festival proved that there is an appetite for this,” Harriet said. “It got the ball rolling. Personally, I’d like all my art to be public and that’s easier to do in a blank canvas town like Stockton.
“There’s nothing much to compare to my mural, except the others that we put up. You look at a work like Charly’s, there’s nothing else like that here. The concept is wonderful. We can’t really explain it, but we just want people to look at it and experience joy, and I think he nailed that.”
Another strand of BIG Art was to inspire and empower other artists – and especially women. Traditionally, street art has been a male-dominated discipline and that’s something that Harriet and Hazel are looking to change. On a formal level, that can involve setting up a collective to bring women artists together. On a more informal basis, it sets an example and shows what’s possible.
That was how Rose Richardson, an art student at Sunderland University, got involved in the Healthy Streets project.
“I live near one of the murals that they worked on and every day I was walking past to look at their progress,” Rose said. “I was hoping to ask them more about it, and they left their tag on the site so I was able to contact them.
“That was my way in, and the fact that it was two women made it easier to get in touch. If it was two men up there, I’d have been too intimidated, but seeing two female artists working just down my street, that was exactly the encouragement I needed.”
With plans to stage a second BIG Art festival next year, hopefully an upsurge in public artwork can provide further encouragement for Stockton’s burgeoning art scene.
