Artwork for new Broadleaf Park art trail developed from community ideas and input

Artwork for new Broadleaf Park art trail developed from community ideas and input

The designs and locations for four new artworks that will form a new art trail in the borough have been finalised...

The trail, commissioned by Test Valley Borough Council using developers contributions from the Broadleaf Park housing development in Rownhams, will consist of four artworks, or waymarkers, that lead people from the urban space into the natural environment. The trail will encourage residents to explore their surrounding area.

Led by New Forest-based artist Nicola Henshaw and supported by Andover-based artist and poet Michael Johnson in a mentee role, they have held creative writing and creative curiosity workshops in the local community over the past six months, allowing residents of all ages to share their ideas and input.

The artists have also been collecting local ideas, memories and stories to incorporate into Nicola's final designs, which will each stand one to two metres tall and be made from coreten and zinc sprayed steel and cast aluminium.

Councillor Terese Swain, Portfolio Holder for Community and Leisure, added: "This area of Test Valley has some fascinating local heritage, including the ancient, coppiced woodland, tanner's brook and the remains of a Roman road. The artists have been working with the community to develop their ideas and we're delighted to be able to share the final designs."

Nicola took some of her inspiration from short poems called haikus that were created by the community at the workshops she and Michael ran. They draw and expand on ideas around the heritage and natural surroundings of the site by day and by night.

The haikus are:

The first things you see

Are open spaces and trees

And community

Squishy to the top

Sharp and smelly, soft and smooth

High in a pine tree

Optics focused up

Dark skies reveal cosmos past

Wander and delight

Beneath the deep core

Hidden dreams in age adore

Ancient times have passed

Heavenly silk quill

Softly falls from bird unknown

Soundless, fragile, still

Each of the way marker designs will include one of these haiku as well as a QR code which will link to the Test Valley Borough Council website, where there's more information about the project, the artists and the community engagement activity.

Nicola said: "Working with Rownhams residents on community engagement, alongside Michael Johnson has been immensely successful. We hosted a series of creative curiosity workshops which included mapping, mark making and culminated in creative writing. The outcome was a series of haiku poems written by residents, along with a series of beautiful, illustrated maps which marked favourite routes and special places in the village. All these outcomes provided the source material and inspiration for my designs for the sculptures.

"Planning has now been approved and I'm looking forward to starting work on the sculptures now. If the weather holds, I hope they can be installed later this year."

Last Updated: 19 September 2024

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