There is no reason to stand and look in many of the shop windows across the high streets in the UK at the minute and there is nothing more dreary than walking through a town with a desolate feel.
There is now a well established history of artists taking over empty space for temporary exhibitions, it has even been given a title ‘The Slack Space Movement’ and now we are going to make our mark.
Artist Valentine Davies is working with us to bring this project to life and today we have had a chat about the project so far…
The inspiration for the project was the big empty windows. We want to bring colour and interest back to the vacant shops. The Window Watch banners promote aspects of Oswestry and its surroundings and as shops are re-let (which is what we want most to see) they can be moved to another neglected space.
Our first set is ‘Out and About from Oswestry’ and they are developed from drawings and photographs. The enlarged drawings became cut paper stencils for screen printing.
Window Watch is more about the town than self expression of the participants. Working with Designs in Mind you can be sure that high quality and design will lead the process. If something is going to be there for a while it is important that it is cohesive, has a vision and is of a high quality. We have set out to make something that is quite simple and visually will not clutter the windows. As you look at them you can learn, on this set about places to go around Oswestry, and on the next set about the animals you can find in the town.
Footfall is our partner in this project and they are in negotiations with the buildings agents. Our first display is near completion and we are keeping our fingers crossed- we hope you will see it up in town soon.