Bus Shelter Arts Project

2020 saw the beginning of a community initiative to use the oft-neglected bus shelters of the parish as a location for local artists.

This project was inspired by the undercover makeover that one of our shelters near Brewery Lane received last year. A simple thing: just adding a chair, a shelf, some bunting and a sign that read "Stop in the Name of Love" hit the national news as a feel good story and got the local community interested in using the space as a book swap, message centre or just somewhere to rest.

This got the Parish Council to thinking about these public spaces and their importance to our parishioners and the opportunity to make them landmarks and potentially community hubs.

Making a link with Studio 18 was the first step – a new community based music and arts venue on the Hope Mills Industrial Estate and once Zac the owner was convinced and a brief written we went out to the local artist community and asked for their responses. We were blown away by the take up - the creativity on our own doorsteps – and how each concept was completely different.

The first bus shelter decorated as part of the project was done by Eleanor Harper. The signs evoke the industrial history of Bimscombe and Thrupp, especially the role played by the Ferrabee family and Edward Beard Budding.

www.eleanorharpersignwriter.com

"La Cathedrale" takes the dazzle camouflage concept and turns it on its head. The old bus shelter was so discreet it was practically invisible, now it stands out as a beautiful and iconic feature.

Producer / Videographer and part time bus driver, Loco Dooms aka Marcel Lune aka The Aux chord lord. Loco Dooms has been working in the visual and audio fields for most of his adult career, releasing a lot of house and techno records whilst making music videos for drill artists throughout London."My vision for the Brimscombe Art Shelter project revolved around creating a collage piece inspired by the beautiful surrounding areas of the 5 valleys mixed with surreal landscapes. My idea is rooted in collaging old romantic era vista paintings then juxtaposing them to today's relevant images of the local area, sparking the question of the relevance of today's images in relation to the beautiful images of the past."

Artist and musician Freya Tate is next to tackle her bus shelter. Freya is interested in the representation of the figure/body in its practical state and emotional duality, stemming from her work as a musician and life model. Freya's concept for her bus shelter aims to celebrate Stroud's unique and rich history, particularly focusing on its incredibly strong sense of community and passion for social issues. Her design celebrates the human figure, incorporating elements of movement and dance which are fundamental themes in her work.

Studio 18's young resident Artist Albie Lucas is next to take on his bus shelter. Albie studied Art Foundation SGS College 2020-2021.

"My artwork focuses on what it feels like to be living, not glorifying any happiness or sadness, each are the same. This is why I am driven to make drawings, not just to express my emotions but to express emotion itself."

"The bus stop will be painted black with white windows. Portraits of mill workers (men, women and children) taken from local archives will be drawn on the white windows. It is important to me that they are 'everyday people', who were working in the mills in the five valleys, just like the people travelling on the buses will be travelling to work/to shop/or to school. The bus stop will have the title 'everyday people' and this will be drawn on marine ply pieces on top of the bus stop. There will be a short piece of writing on the back of the panels on the inner part of the bus stop highlighting where people would have worked in the mills all along the valley –(Griffin Mill, Brimscombe Port etc), and who they might have been."

Welcome to the Magical Wonderland Bowbridge Bus Depot Perikaleidoscope Bus Stop!
It's all the fun of the fair as you step into a world of blue skies, fluffy clouds, rainbows and magical mirrors. See the world from a different perspective while you wait.
The first bus shelter along the London Road trail at the Bowbridge traffic lights is a collaboration by local artists Kazz Hollick and Isa Clee.

Kazz is a visual artist who started with photography at Brighton University, then on returning to Stroud and working with a variety of artists and musicians, has experimented with mixed media and community/public installations.

From a very early age Isa began investigating the world from different angles, looking at the tiny and the magnificent through different lenses. From holding a shiny surface on the pages of story books to alter the illustrations, to walking on the ceiling with the aid of her mothers makeup mirror, the ability to change her view through the bottom of a glass, a tiny hole or coloured sweet wrapper was fascinating to her.