EMSLIE HORNIMAN PLAYGROUND
PUBLIC VOTE
Voting closed on 27 February 2023.
As part of our ongoing initiative dedicated to bringing great art and creative flare to unusual sites across the borough, we have partnered with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to run a series of community workshops to deliver the creation of a mural on the wall of the newly-refurbished Emslie Horniman Pleasance playground.
Community-nominated artists have designed three unique proposals, inspired by the results of the consultation held with community members and on children's drawings from Ark Brunel Primary Academy.
The artists Junior Tomlin, Paprika Skala-Williams, and Lucy Oates each created a design proposal ready to be put to public vote.
We now ask YOU to review each of the design proposals below and vote on them. The finalist design will then be announced here and across all our social channels, and the mural created in March 2023 in collaboration with RCA students.
HOW TO VOTE
Click through the galleries below, read the statements by each artist, and find out more about each artist further down below. Then click through to the voting page and vote for your favourite design!
Please scroll down for further information about each artist and the project collaborators.
CHILDREN ARE OUR RISING STARS BY JUNIOR TOMLIN
UNITY IN PATTERN BY LUCY OATES
BUGS, BEETLES AND BUTTERFLIES BY PAPRIKA SKALA-WILLIAMS
THE ARTISTS
About Junior Tomlin
A founding member of the London cartoon workshop (1983) Junior Tomlin learned sequential art, he has worked for various companies such as John Brown Jr. Publishing, Titan and Panini - famous for producing football stickers and licensed to produce Marvel comics in the UK. He worked as a digital colourist for them with credits including Action Man, Transformers Armada, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Judge Dredd and numerous pocketbook covers and collectors cards. His work on film includes “Nightbreed” a Clive Barker horror film, Lost in space where he was employed as a texture map artist and Ultra Guardians where he worked as a character designer and concept artist. He has also worked for Cartoon Network, 2000AD, Audio Rom, Saddlers Wells Theatre, IBT and many others.
By 1989 Junior got into illustrating record covers when while working at the London cartoon Centre in Ladbroke Grove, there he met the manager of the London band Renegade Sound wave, the manager was looking for a airbrush artist to do artwork for the band you can say He was in the right place at the right time, that was his first record cover, the track was called The Phantom. In the beginning of the 90’s Junior’s style had progressed and he moved into creating rave flyers. His airbrush technique combined with his futuristic style of delivery earned him the name the Salvador Dali of Rave‚ in the late 90’s when the rave scene was exploding all over Britain. He amassed a considerate following among the Rave community in London, Tokyo and Australia where his early flyers are still in high demand and considered as collector’s items
Some of the most memorable and iconic images associated with dance and rave music were created by him - inspiring a generation to create art and make music. His numerous artworks Include covers for leading dance labels, editorial illustrations, rave flyers and posters
www.theravegeneration.co.uk/junior-tomlins-afrofutures-exhibition/
www.london.lecool.com/inspirations/junior-tomlin/
www.grasart.com/blog/kapow-blam-its-junior-tomlin
www.retoxmagazine.com/art/junior-tomlin-the-salvador-dali-of-rave
www.urbandandylondon.com/2015/12/26/juniortomlin/
www.themuseat269.com/uploads/1535641983_Muse_18.pdf
www.internationaldjmag.com/junior-tomlin.html
About Lucy Oates
Lucy is a pattern seeker and collage maker, she grew up in Acton in West London. She see's her practice as a platform to use colour, mark making, and graphics as a tool to make the world a better place. Painting murals on neglected buildings and mundane spaces, Lucy aims to change how people feel in these environments.
"I find the accessibility of murals/public art wonderful and important to how we shape our cities."
Lucy studied Contemporary Arts Practice at Bath Spa University, where she developed her hybrid print making process involving recycled materials. She then went on to complete a MA in Mixed Media Textiles at the Royal College of Art.
In 2020 Lucy was awarded the Chelsea Arts Club Trustee Award which enabled her to facilitate print making workshops across West London in several alternative provision schools. This project led on to her working with the charity Bright Futures to deliver printmaking and mural workshops for children at the Royal Free Hospital school the Hive. These workshops have shaped the mural designs Lucy and the students will go on to paint in their school.
With representation from Artiq Lucy has been part of several successful exhibitions and group shows across the UK.
www.lucyoates.com
@overnite.oates
About Paprika Skala-Williams
Designer•Artist•Activator.
Funding member of the experimental and renowned puppetry theatre company Klinika Lalek (Puppet Clinic) in Poland, based on the Grotowski Method. The company which is still ongoing , trains younger generations.
Paprika came to London to study Set and Costume Design for Theatre and Screen in 1997. While working at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Linbury Studio Theatre as part of the huge costume and prop department teams, she also collaborated with Sixteen Feet Theatre making costumes and props.
She graduated this year at Ceramic Design at Central Saint Martins. Specialises in Design Ethnography carefully learning the history of the place, before proposing any artistic interventions.
Paprika is also actively engaged in Grenfell Tower Fire Recovery, as a former resident of opposite tower facing Grenfell.
She runs self-funded Silent Art for Grenfell workshops, inviting community to express the sorrow in simple engagement with clay and commemorating most traumatic fire London experienced for hundreds of years. Five years in the project hundreds of ceramic hearts done by the neighbours at all cultural hubs of North Kensington are being installed in monthly open for all sessions, making very personal community memorial murals. Identifying interest and enthusiasm for learning simple techniques amongst families and elders of North Kensington Paprika wrote a project for Grenfel Fund to organise community kiln and entered very challenging stage of fundraising for this demanding bus so worthwhile project.
She also co-directs Portobello Pavilion Hive. Local art collective organising annual Summer Art Festival. The mission of supporting the local arts ecology and art education is Paprika’s long lived passion.
WORKSHOPS + CONSULTATION RESULTS
Each artist was given the same access to the the results from our consultation. Initial workshops were held at Venture Community Centre to introduce the project to the community and to seek recommendations for local artists, other key organisations and residents to join the consultation, and themes for the mural. We aimed to involve those members of the community who use the park and enjoy the playground. Many young mothers joined our workshops with their children.
An Art Day was then held at Ark Brunel Primary Academy where children of 4 - 11 years of age were invited to create designs based on the themes from the two workshops. Please click through below gallery to see the children creating their designs based on key themes from the Public Consultation by KCAW team.
THE MURAL WALL
The wall is located at the back of a popular playground affectionally known as the Teletubby Park by the locals, officially referred to as the Emslie Horniman Pleasance Park Playground. It contains 11 round windows, into which metal designs have been added by the previous refurbishment.
Please click through the gallery of the newly completed refurbishment of the playground and our photos of the playground undergoing refurbishment.
THANK YOU TO OUR PROJECT PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS
We are grateful to the Venture Centre community and their soul kitchen chef for supporting the KCAW team in introducing the project to the residents who nominated their favourite artists for the mural, suggested key themes and shared their personal stories about the park.
Thank you to the Ark Brunel Primary Academy teachers and students for hosting an Art Day at the Academy in order to inspire the nominated artists, and to our partners RCA, for running an Open Call for MA students to support the final production of the mural painting in March 2023.
And a special acknowledgement goes to Junior Tomlin, Paprika Skala-Williams and Lucy Oates for joining the project, and to Vicky Caplin, KCAW Advisory Member, who tirelessly volunteered at all KCAW workshops alongside KCAW team, and encouraged the community to get involved.
