Last night, Louise Wood held clay workshops with a group of Coalville residents at the Tenants and Residents Association Centre. See here for details of upcoming workshops in Coalville.
Despite a busy schedule, Louise was kind enough to allow us to photograph portraits of the participants and interview them about their lives in Coalville and their experiences of regeneration.
Left to right: Kyle, Chloe and Lewis
"I live with my sister in a care home. I love it there, I have my own bed. I like food, supper and tea. My dream house has a garden. I'd pick leaves up and put them in a bag. I'd cook my tea and wash up, have my own bed. Cozy bed. Big windows with big lights." Sharon.
"I've lived here half my life but I don't know where I was before then. I get peace and quiet because there's no children on my street, kids make too much noise. Everyone on my estate is going to have to move because we're having our houses knocked down because the builders are building a park thing. I'm not looking forward to it because I don't know where I'm going to live. I don't like my house because the builders are getting rid of the old house behind my house and all the mud keeps coming in our backyard and the dog keeps escaping. And it's noisy." Chantelle, 9 years old.
"I've lived in about four houses. I just keep moving. We moved off the estate, we lived on the estate, moved off, moved back on and then moved house because they weren't very good. I live at the bottom but there's no point spending any money on it because they're knocking it down to make the estate better. They give you application forms then a police check, and if they're all good, they'll think about giving you a house. I like it here because all my mates are here. It wouldn't feel right if you went anywhere else because you'd have to find loads of new mates again." What does regeneration mean to you? "It's where they destroy everything and make it again." Jack, 13 years old.
From Gavin Peacock's The Man From Icon: "Just back from Stoke and our PramCam excursion which was a great success. 15-18 miles of walking and 6 hours of footage. Started in Mier at around 6.45am and through Longton (15 minute stop under a railway bridge because of rain deciding whether to abort or not), Fenton, Stoke, Hanley, Burslem, Middleport and finished up in Tunstall at 3pm." Watch Gavin's video footage of the excursion here.
BM - Brian McClave TW - Tom Wichelow GP - Gavin Peacock MH - Mishka Henner
MH: Something that really struck me that I've tried to capture in the pictures is that you're going past so many landscapes and buildings. Asian shops, funeral shops, boarded up buildings, new buildings. Is that something you were planning? BM: We've deliberately planned a route through the city that in each area encompasses a variety of things from parkland to derelict areas, and nice areas. Variety has been the main director of the route. GP: We've only had a vague route, planning a mile ahead almost but if we see something that looks interesting we'll follow our noses. But the plan was just to take in all six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent. When we came the first time and drove around it didn't make sense to do something in just one area because there are these six separate towns with their own identities. So the idea of this film is to take in all six towns. MH: Is there a theme running through all your films? BM: We're dealing with issues of space and time and that ends up being refelected in the technology that we use - making stereoscopic three dimensional films. On a wider conceptual level, in terms of the ideas we're working on and the technology we're using, we're either slowing things down, speeding them up, or viewing them in three dimensions. We're looking at this place in terms of its history and its future by twisting time and manipulating spatial stuff in terms of the medium we're applying to it. What the outcomes will be like I don't know. We'll have a clearer idea of that when we look at it and assess it together. TW: As we've been walking today, it's dawned on me just what we are going to see. It was planned to a certain extent. We followed our noses and for me that's the appeal of what we've done today. The places we've stumbled across have been delightful. GP: It's an amazing way to find out about the place - walking through it in a day from top to bottom. MH: You've probably done something that many people living here have never done. What would you say you've learnt from doing that? TW: It's given us a great overall impression of the place. Almost waking up and seeing a place come to life, seeing how many people are around at a particular time, where the traffic is going, how people look at a particular time of the day. Just getting a feel and morale of the place. BM: And the sense of the landscape. We've commented a lot as we've walked along about the different nuances of the landscape and how varied it is. GP: They are six very different places that seemed to be joined by main roads more than anything else. There does still seem to be six separate towns joined by big roads. MH: Does industry or traces of industry link them in any way? BM: There's an over-riding sense of industry and decay wherever you look, and also of past wealth.
Pottery chief claims industry is in a 'vicious circle': A leading pottery manufacturer has called for better wages in the industry and an end to switching production to other countries. Hugh Edwards, the executive chairman of Moorcroft says low pay and outsourcing has created a vicious circle'. From a BBC News website, Friday 16th August, 2002.
"The industrial revolution made cities the focus of production, population, culture and society in Britain but the last three decades have been characterised by a loss of employment and population, a relocation of manufacturing and the adjustment of other economic structures. After a long period of continued growth the advent of decline led to questions being asked about the role of the city in a modern economy, including the need for cities to readjust to these processes of urban and regional change which have seen the economic benefits of a city location decline in favour of urban fringe and more rural locations. The development of urban policy over the past three decades has been a process of responding to the continually changing nature of a modern economy and to its spatial manifestations." D. Noon, J. & Smith-Canham & M. Eagland (2000) 'Economic Regeneration and Funding'
"Building a city depends on how people combine the traditional economic factors of land, labor and capital. But it also depends on how they manipulate symbolic languages of exlusion and entitlement. The look and feel of cities reflect decisions about what - and who - should be visible and what should not, on concepts of order and disorder, and on uses of aesthetic power." pg 7. Sharon Zukin (1995) The Culture of Cities.
"I hope they do develop this land because I want to attract more customers to the area, I want the whole area to look nice because it's not very attractive for the cafe with all the rubbish about, it's not a pretty sight to look at when you walk down the street. We do get quite a lot of customers but sometimes it goes a bit dead. I'm hoping that if they do something with it it'll be thriving." Matthew, Kitchen Assistant at the Sunshine Cafe.
"They say that Stoke's fifteen years behind everywhere else. The pottery industries did keep going for a long time after industries in other cities died out. It's only in the last ten to fifteen years that the pottery industry's died. Some of the attitudes of people, it's a strange mindset in Stoke, especially with the five to six towns that are here. Everyone thinks their town is the best instead of working together. Hopefully one day it'll be better." Andy, Director of AirSpace Gallery
"I oversee the implementation of the delivery programme, about £38million of Renew funds. We're starting to see some iconic projects come forward, not just the standard housebuilders' offer. It's not the easiest place to get to in terms of sharing a single vision but I think we're getting there. It takes so much time to start seeing anything happening on the ground. It's like any other regeneration project, it can take 5 years before you start seeing any measurable impact." Joanne (above left) is Renew'sInterim Head of Programmes. Peter (above right) is Renew's Head of Resources.
"You have to be passionate to do this work because you get so much flak you'd start questioning why you were doing it otherwise. Some residents say 'why aren't you giving me the opportunity to move?', others say 'why are you making me move?' Some councillors say 'why are you doing it in my area?', others say 'why aren't you doing it in my area?'" Debbie (above), Renew Programme Manager for Knutton & Cross Heath. "You get to meet so many people in my job, everything from Ministers of State down to Mrs Jones who lives on Wellington Street. The best part is meeting the community and getting to know them. They're such lovely people. The tough parts are probably also the people and the change they're going through because change is always difficult. It's hard sometimes to talk to them about that because they're finding it difficult to deal with and you can imagine it happening to yourself and it's quite an emotional thing so it can be difficult. But then you just have to look at the bigger picture and how it's going to be in the future and that one day it will be better." Alex (above), Renew PR & Communications Officer.
"I'm born and bred in Stoke-on-Trent and being part of such a fantastic regeneration programme is really important because in years to come I can step back and say I was part of that. I get a lot of satisfaction from it because I can see the bigger picture and how it's going to benefit everybody. I think artists and myself look at regeneration deep rooted and in-depth, but from different perspectives. I'm looking at it from a complete picture and artists may just concentrate on just one area of regeneration. Both of us aren't just looking at the surface though, we're looking at the foundations." Heather (above), Renew PR & Communications Officer.
"There's probably a dozen clearance areas on the go in City Centre south so there's a lot upset with that. But what gives you a smile is when someone moves into somewhere new and start appreciating that the quality of life is better, then you certainly think it's been worthwhile. We do far more refurbishments than we do demolitions. I think the ratio is about five to one but that never makes the papers. It's far more emotive and sells more papers if you focus on people who are upset by the clearance process. I think it's very true to say that in some of the clearance areas that we deal with it is the minority who are upset." Nick (above), Renew Programme Manager for City Centre South.
Place Space and Identity is led by Arts Council England, West Midlands, co-funded by Renew North Staffordshire and delivered in partnership with B Arts and AirSpace.
Last night, Louise Wood held clay workshops with a group of Coalville residents at the Tenants and Residents Association Centre. See here for details of upcoming workshops in Coalville.
Despite a busy schedule, Louise was kind enough to allow us to photograph portraits of the participants and interview them about their lives in Coalville and their experiences of regeneration.
Left to right: Kyle, Chloe and Lewis
"I live with my sister in a care home. I love it there, I have my own bed. I like food, supper and tea. My dream house has a garden. I'd pick leaves up and put them in a bag. I'd cook my tea and wash up, have my own bed. Cozy bed. Big windows with big lights." Sharon.
"I've lived here half my life but I don't know where I was before then. I get peace and quiet because there's no children on my street, kids make too much noise. Everyone on my estate is going to have to move because we're having our houses knocked down because the builders are building a park thing. I'm not looking forward to it because I don't know where I'm going to live. I don't like my house because the builders are getting rid of the old house behind my house and all the mud keeps coming in our backyard and the dog keeps escaping. And it's noisy." Chantelle, 9 years old.
"I've lived in about four houses. I just keep moving. We moved off the estate, we lived on the estate, moved off, moved back on and then moved house because they weren't very good. I live at the bottom but there's no point spending any money on it because they're knocking it down to make the estate better. They give you application forms then a police check, and if they're all good, they'll think about giving you a house. I like it here because all my mates are here. It wouldn't feel right if you went anywhere else because you'd have to find loads of new mates again." What does regeneration mean to you? "It's where they destroy everything and make it again." Jack, 13 years old.
