Yeovil Town Centre Window Artwork Project
Released On 25th Jan 2021
Love Yeovil have recently been awarded funding from South Somerset District Council to help brighten up Yeovil’s Town Centre.
Yeovil, despite still bucking the trend for town centres shop closures, has sadly fallen victim of the recent pandemic with many of its retailers closing their doors for good and leaving empty shops as shopping habits change during the restrictions.
To help improve the experience of visitors to the town centre Love Yeovil is working with Yeovil Art Space and Yeovil College and Yeovil College University Centre to instal pieces of artwork, graphics and photographs all with the unifying theme of ‘Together we are Stronger’.
Yeovil Art Space, a community arts charity, has also received funding for their Window Wonderland Project which will be contributing to Love Yeovil’s Window Artwork Project, as both are working towards a common outcome of brightening up the town. Artists Hannah Bottomley, Stéphanie Max and Natasha Rand are working with Yeovil College Art students to create a display “Sky, Land and Sea” and invite the public to take part using the free window making kits. Please find out more at https://yeovilartspace.uk/windowwanderland/
Yeovil College Creative Industries department are also going to be working alongside Love Yeovil and Yeovil Arts Space. Students will be presented with the ‘Together We are Stronger’ theme and asked to create pieces that reflect their interpretation of the concept, using various mediums such as photography and graphic design.
Love Yeovil is now in the process of working with the property owners of the identified retail units to arrange access and agree what type of installation will work best depending on the window and its location.
The final result will be an art trail throughout the town centre created by local artists and the community. There will be an accompanying map showing the location of each of the art installations which will be downloadable from the Love Yeovil website in due course.
Councillor Peter Gubbins, Portfolio Holder for Yeovil Refresh, said: “As a District Council, we were more than happy to support and fund this project by Love Yeovil that will help visually improve the town. Ideally, we would love to see all the shops filled with a variety of commercial ventures, however many have been forced to close their doors, leaving empty units and by creating visual artwork to fill windows, we hope this will enhance any shoppers experience until such time that units are in use again.
“The Yeovil Refresh programme aims to create a town centre that will be a vibrant place to live, work, shop, learn and visit. Whilst we work towards this, the artwork projects help to create a sense of pride in the town rather than leaving it looking uncared for.”
Alice Edmonds from Love Yeovil, said ‘this is a very exciting project and hopefully will bring some cheer to the town centre for those who are visiting it. Social distancing guidelines and the current restrictions are all being adhered to but even in lockdown there is much that can be done so that when the town centre is fully open again it will be a welcoming place.’
