Outdoor Art Trail
Explore the art trail to explore the book! The outdoor art in the open spaces of St Leonards on Sea invites you outside for multiple visits to consider what this heritage book means to you.
1-14 APRIL Four festival projects comprise the outdoor art trail across the town.
15-16 APRIL, 3-6PM FOUR COURTS WELLBEING HUB, SYDNEY CLOSE, ST LEONARDS TN38 9DD
Explore the artwork on the festival’s final weekend along with a music programme on the Saturday and a food fair on the Sunday.
17-18: The opening of the artwork in permanent locations in local schools.
“Pleasing memory” – Artist Susan Miller with Dudley Infant Academy and All Saint CE Junior Academy
WARRIOR SQUARE GARDENS, NORTH END OF THE PARK BELOW ROSE GARDENArtist Susan Miller responds to Mary’s many references to flowers in her book.
A flower garden of roses is created from the brush strokes of young painters in Dudley Infant Academy and All Saints CE Junior Academy, whose works are fashioned into roses and butterflies using Origami, the Japanese art of folding paper.
The weathering roses will be deadheaded through the festival offering pleasing memories reflecting Mary’s plucking “simple wild-flowers, or tufts of grass, as memorials…” in the Crimean War.
Level access from pavement. Level paths.
“Confidence in my own powers” – Artists Maya Ramnarine, Robin Elliott-Knowles, Peter Quinnell and Kitty McCarron
PATH FROM STATION APPROACH TO ST LEONARDS WARRIOR SQUARE STATION CONCOURSE
This installation tracks Mary Seacole’s journey across the globe and through her life.
Mary Seacole chose to write her autobiography as a travelogue. Artist team Robin Elliott-Knowles, Maya Ramnarine and Peter Quinnell create a series of giant pages on a path for viewers to explore Mary’s life as a physical journey.
Scan the QR code to listen to the accompanying soundscapes created by Kitty McCarron.
The bunting designs of young artists at this site are inspired by Mary’s confidence in her own powers – “As I grew into womanhood, I began to indulge that longing to travel which will never leave me while I have health and vigour”.
Access: the path is a steep slope with level entrance from the pavement at the top. There are five steps at the lower end.
“Smiling landscapes” – Artists Yasmin Aishah, Esme Fisher and Frank Moon
GENSING GARDENS
Thursday 6 and Friday 7 April, 10.45-11.45am – Meet the Smiling Landscapes artist team in Gensing Gardens for family fun!
Artist team Yasmin Aishah, Esme Fisher and Frank Moon invite you to explore interactive music instruments in the landscape.
The team is inspired by Mary’s poetical approach to describing her travels “in many lands”.
The festival marks the 200th anniversary of Mary’s solo trip from Jamaica to England as a teenager. Mary brought her homemade preserves with her on this journey to sell in England. Bunting designs from three schools are hoisted aloft the artwork at this site responding to Mary’s creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
Access: the paths in the park range from level to sloping. Level entrance from the pavement on Charles Road.
“April…made us cheerful again” – Artist Margarita Novikova
BENCH SHELTER ON PROMENADE NEAR BOTTOM OF LONDON ROAD
Artist Margarita Novikova offers a different Crimea to its identity as a place of conflict in Mary Seacole’s book and of today.
She invites the festival community to connect with Crimea as a seaside holiday resort as she experienced it in the 1990s. She finds connection with St Leonards-on-Sea sharing the Crimea’s botanical and recreational value.
In doing so, she reflects Mary Seacole’s highlighting of nature’s swift regrowth after the ravages of conflict – “bright flowers grow up upon ruins of batteries…”.
Access: Level access on promenade.
