Art in the Streets is a pilot project led by Discover King’s Lynn (the King’s Lynn BID) that aimed to inject more visual art into the streets of King’s Lynn Town Centre, and generate a sense of pride and ownership amongst people who use the town regularly, live in or near the town and / or work in the town. The project has received £10,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, via the Borough Council for King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.
“I wanted to find a way to bring more public art to the centre of King’s Lynn, to make art more visible on a day to day basis. This pilot project allows us to start small, test out ideas and see whether we can eventually turn it into something big and bold in the future.” Says Vicky Etheridge, BID Manager.
We appointed lead artists Annabel McCourt and Adrian Riley to generate some initial ideas and design options. The artists have taken inspiration from historic building designs, in particular the heart motif above Numbers 15 & 16 Tuesday Market Place. The motif is linked to the legend of the witches heart; the legend goes that a witch was burned on the stake on Tuesday Market Place, and as she burned, her heart burst from her chest, bounced off the walls of the buildings sank into the river. Her heart left a permanent mark on (Numbers 15 & 16) Tuesday Market Place.
Adrian and Annabel used the heart motif to create different repeating patterns that can be injected with colour and turned into a range of artworks on a variety formats, from murals to neon lights, window vinyl and light boxes. They also suggested inserting the phrase “ My heart bounces for King’s Lynn.” As a way to connect to the legend, and give local people a talking point for what they love about the town.
This was intended as a project that was rooted in the community, using your words as part of the designs and building up a bank of ideas that can be used in the future too. Starting in March 2024, we invited you to share what you love about King’s Lynn, what makes your heart bounce when you’re here, or when you think of the Town. We carried out some vox pops on the street, encouraged comment on social media, left prompt sheets at the library, encouraged children and families to contribute to their ideas during our Easter fun day, and ran 3 workshops in May where people got the chance to print their own tote bags and learn to lino cut. Around 300 people have taken part so far!
The original, grand plan was to have up to 3 murals on walls in prominent places around the town centre. However after many enquiries and asking permission, none of the owners of the walls would allow us to paint them, and / or the walls were not in a good state of repair for such a project.
We then thought that we could paint, or cover a number of the green utility boxes that are scattered around the town, but permission by conservation planning authorities was not received.
What we have achieved is a beautiful mural painted across 9 of the hoardings panels around the Town Deal project site to build a new library and learning centre on Tower Street. Hand painted by talented local signwriter and designer, Kayleigh Wood. The Panels incorporate three quotes gathered from the engagement process.
The other two elements of the project are the placement and rotation of six light boxes with an illuminated witches heart motif at the centre, in business windows around the town. The light boxes will move around different businesses, have you seen them yet?
We’ve loved listening to and reading about your stories and love for King’s Lynn, thank you for sharing them with us. We hope that this is just the beginning of seeing more art around the town centre, and giving people the opportunity to be creative. Keep your eyes on our “what’s on” page for future events and more information, and make sure to follow us on social media.
