Weston Wanders Arts Trail hits the streets
A multitude of creative encounters are popping up on the streets of Weston as the town showcases a trail of eclectic arts to discover in well-known, new and surprising spaces.
From giant words, haiku poetry, audio works and make-your-own SEE MONSTER Zines, to colourful High Street flags, transformed walls and windows, community artwork and nature projects, there is so much to experience.
Residents and visitors to the town are invited to look out, look up and look beyond in this collection of inspiring and uplifting installations.
These events are produced by Culture Weston as part of Weston Presents, a series of free community events taking place in town in the run up to and during SEE MONSTER, supported by funding from Arts Council England, North Somerset Council and Weston-super-Mare Town Council.
For more information about SEE MONSTER, a reimagined offshore platform and world-first public art installation in residence at the Tropicana on Weston’s seafront, visit www.seemonster.co.uk.
Access the Weston Wanders Arts Trail digital map showing you what you can experience and where to wander HERE.
Arts Trail maps are also available to pick up at sites throughout the town, including the Train Station, Central Library, Weston Museum, Tropicana Cafe, Loves Café, Sprout Café and other central locations.
Weston Wanders Arts Trail highlights include ‘Letters for the Sea, Letters for the Land’, a collection of site-specific, word-based installations situated along the seafront and around the town, spotlighting local landmarks and features.
Inspired by the land and sea, the installations include thought-provoking words in giant lettering, seafront shelter sentiments and promenade poster board poetry, physically and metaphorically engaging with our precious environment.
‘Uplifting Haikus’ a series of inspiring poems written by young people and displayed in the Sovereign Centre’s glass elevators are designed to leave you with good thoughts to take home after a shopping trip. While the High Street is adorned with a new, colourful flag installation brightening the town centre. ‘Look Up!’ is inspired by the sights of Weston and co-designed by the Weston Artspace community led by local artist and screen print designer Zara Shepherd.
Take a promenade poetry stroll with Chapter One’s audio stops at seafront shelters, listen to a lively collection of young people’s voices in ‘OTR Speak’ at the Grand Pier or visit Birnbeck Pier to hear multi-generational voices of Weston explore our weather cycles in immersive audio experience, ‘Weathering Together’.
Soak up the stunning street art of ‘Weston Wallz’, curated by Bristol’s much-loved Upfest and featuring bespoke new artworks transforming ordinary walls and corners of the town. See how Weston YMCA youth group depict the town in ‘Future Vision of the Sea’, a new, collaborative artwork painting a colourful picture of a utopian coastline and look out for Weston Photography Open Exhibition in September.
Displaying a diverse range of images taken by local residents and visitors, the exhibition showcases people’s take on the town as seen through the camera lens.
Get back to nature at Grow Feral’s micro-garden at The Italian Gardens and pay a pound for a hand-made plant kit dispensed from vending machines around the town.
Sam Francis, artist and Weston Presents Community Producer said: “Artists and communities have come together across a range of art forms to create Weston Wanders, an arts trail full of invigorating visual and audio experiences that breathe fresh perspectives into Weston’s built and natural landscape.”