Along with the awesome Walala Parade, which is now full steam ahead, you might have seen that there’s another visual project to brighten up Leyton High Road.
The Makers of Leyton is a collab with Waltham Forest Council’s Making Places initiative, which delivers creative projects across the borough to “make a lasting impact on communities and neighbourhoods.”
Waltham Forest residents have nominated sites across the borough that they wanted to see transformed. Linear Park in Leytonstone is a previous one, for example.
Twenty of the nominated sites are about to be (or have already been) rebooted by new artworks.
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The Makers Of Leyton proposes a hand-painted typographic mural beneath the bridge at Leyton Midland Road Overground.
The hope is that, together with improved lighting, the artwork will cast a nod to the area’s history of manufacturing and craft – as well as making the space brighter and more attractive.
And the colourful wall-art will celebrate the diversity of local makers, from, say, a famous local kulfi-maker to a glass blower or filmmaker.
Featuring names and occupations, it hopes to convey the uniqueness of Leyton’s makers by offering a history of the area and a creating a positive legacy.
The conceptual artist-duo behind it, Phillips-Walmsely, have form in this kind of thing: back in 2012, the couple founded Bread Collective, initially winning funding for a series of large-scale typographic murals by the Olympic Park.
Now they want to know if any of our own super-talented readers are cut from an artisan cloth (we’re pretty sure that’s a yes).
“Do you make things with your hands or are you a small-batch producer?” asks Victoria. “You might be a ceramicist, metalworker, or carpenter, artist or brewer. You might design jewellery, produce fabrics, make clothes or work with leather. Or perhaps you know someone locally that does?”
Affirmative. To nominate yourself (if you’re bold), or someone else, email makersofleyton@gmail.com with the name of the maker and what they do. Entries close Sunday 12 July 2020.
Follow @MakersOfLeyton. Note: the mural visual featured above is to show positioning rather than the actual design.
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