Number 1010355
Sunnyside Eclipse
| Table and ferro-cement seating area | VIEW PROJECT GALLERY |  |
Action Factory worked with Bolton at Home, Housing % for Art and the Friends of Sunnyside Park to design a sculptural mosaic paved seating area for their local park in Farnworth, Bolton. The artist developed the scheme in consultation with the residents at their meetings and worked in partnership with Bolton Council and their contractors to install the work outside the community centre.
The eclipse theme was developed to reflect the positive changes happening through the regeneration of the area. A reminiscence project had already happened which culminated in a CD of recorded conversations about life working in the Sunnyside Mill. Words and phrases from these recordings were cast in to the brass rays, like glimmers of a bygone era. Shirting material, some from the heyday of Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee (the textile manufacturers who once occupied the Sunnyside Mill) were coiled in to the structure of the resin topped table, trapped like bubbles in time.
The project was one in which Action Factory developed further skills in ferro-cement, resin casting, mosaic and installation of these in the public realm. The seating area brings a new function to an old circular flower bed which the Friends group had replanted several times only to find it uprooted by vandals. The colour and materials of the artwork reflected the desire for a more permanent 'brightening up' of the entrance to the park.
The launch event for the work collaborted with the Neighbourhood management team's community day at which drummers and Chinese Dragon dancers brought the seating area to life.
