About This Project
Spread Your Wings was project with a lot of local flavour & pride for Peterborough Celebrates Festival in May 2023.
Working with our friends Orton Makers and Rose Croft, we asked groups, schools and individuals to help us design and make Ostrich-sized birds for a colourful, joyful display at Peterborough Celebrates.
Using birds of paradise as a theme, each bird represented an area of the city, including people’s ideas of paradise or messages of hope. We also encouraged that the installation was brighter than a flamingo and made people feel proud of their areas like a peacock.
There was also a ‘doodle’ bird that festival goers could doodle on over the weekend. This was very popular!
We held a city wide competition too, which many people entered with their designs. The winner then had their design painted onto the citywide bird. More info on each artist, bird and area below.
How the project was received:
In numbers:
8 birds
4 artists – Rose Croft, Korp, Paper Rhino, Ann Bellamy
4 neighbourhoods – Millfield, Eye, Orton, Westwood
About each community group that inspired and designed their bird:
Eye Youth Club
Every Friday during term time, around 60-80 young people from Eye village become Eye Youth Club. They play pool, board games, spend pocket money on the tuck shop and dance or sing along to a disco just for them. The group of 9-12 years has an atmosphere that is full of a buzzy energy.
Amanda Rigby from Paper Rhino led a ‘Spread Your Wings’ workshop on a normal Friday. The group generated lots of creative inspiration for the youth club bird, creating doodles of love, colourful ink blots, passionate patterns and lots of chats. Green was the base colour for the bird, because of Eye Green, and its connections to nature. Some of the patterns symbolise how a youth club night feels. This bird is now installed in the play area of the Eye Youth and community centre and youngsters run around it still on a Friday night.
Lapwing Makers group
Lapwing Makers was based at Lapwing Court in Orton. It was a group of residents who met every Tuesday and created together. They created tile designs, made chocolates and tried different painting techniques. The weekly classes were guided by artist Rose Croft, who painted and designed this bird on their behalf.
Lapwing Court is not far from Ferry Meadows. The makers talked about how their weekly visits to the café on the platform of the Nene Valley Railway in Orton was a delight for them. They spoke about how a friendly robin would follow people to the shops. Many of the makers stories were featured in the design, as well as quotes to live by and the colours of the space where they met- teal and purple.
One maker also wanted to feature a 1940’s aircraft as a way of paying homage to their father who was part of the Battle of Britain. This bird is now installed at Lapwing court and is enjoyed by all the residents there.
Orton Makers
Orton Makers are a regular volunteer-led group based in Orton that meet, drink a brew and make things together. You didn’t have to be arty to be a maker – just up for a laugh and trying new things.
Orton Makers were the inspiration behind ‘Spread Your Wings’ project overall. The group decided on the focus, title of the project and the outcomes. They wanted people from across Peterborough to feel proud of their areas, to experience sculptures that were vibrant and made you want your photo with them.
Orton Makers worked with artist Rose Croft for months. A lot of what the makers did in their weekly sessions are featured in the bird. They chose Yellow as a base because for them it means brightness and friendship, which is how the group felt to them. They even used yellow in their own marketing of the group.
Orton Young People
This bird was dedicated to, and inspired by, young people who live in Orton. Around 100 young people submitted designs for the bird using patterns, words, colours and symbols to express their joy, hope and loves.
Orton Makers helped Rose to design the bird by choosing some of their favourite designs by the young people. They also spoke to Rose about what it felt like for them being young in Orton or being parents to young people. Some of these motifs have been included in the design too. This is why the famous No1 bus route features – it’s essential to young people as they get older. Plus, it cuts right through all the Ortons.
The group wanted a bird that was full of good energy and represented young people in a positive way and celebrated the good they do – to combat some of the negative press that a small minority might get. For example, two young people raised money for Nene Valley Railway after their signal box was vandalised. These are the stories they wanted to praise.
This bird is now nested at Orton Wistow Primary School, being enjoyed by more young people from the area.
Millfield Carnival
Carnival is the name and colour is the game. A group of residents from in and around Millfield made a special carnival performance for Millfield Festival 2023. The idea came from memories of the Gladstone Carnival which happened in the 1980s in the area. People loved it when they were younger, and they wanted to relive that celebration with lots of bright colour and costumes.
The festival and carnival were about showing off the different cultures that live within Millfield in a way that is unifying and of course to have fun! The Millfield Carnival bird embodied some of the designs featured in the costumes and had some golds and metallics that made it flashy and vibrant. This bird now lives at Westraven Community Garden where it often sits amongst all the green at Family events there.
Jailbirds & HMP Peterborough
Jailbirds was a workshop at HMP Peterborough where female prisoners learned to make craft items, many of which were sold to raise money for charity. Becoming involved in craft projects has a positive impact on the mental health of prisoners, as well as providing them with creative skills that they could use post-release, sharing them with their families or even as a stepping stone to a new career.
Jailbirds and HMP Peterborough had a long history of collaborating in community and arts events in Peterborough.
This bird was designed by ten female prisoners who were delighted to be able to take part in a positive project for the local community, looking ahead to a positive, hopeful future regardless of their circumstances.
This bird is now nested at Westraven Community Garden, which is only 1.4 miles away from HMP Peterborough.
Hampton / Korp Academy
This bird was painted by street-artist Korp who was based at Studio 4 in Hampton’s Serpentine Green shopping centre.
Korp co-designed this bright bird with members of his Korp Academy – a programme of weekly and monthly workshops that are suitable for all ages and talents. Workshops take place mostly online now, with members from around the world. ‘Academy members’ learn how to draw characters and master the use of materials.
The Hampton / Korp Academy bird used a red, white and black colour scheme because of one member’s love of those colours. This member was about to have a major operation, so it felt right to choose their favourite colours. The design used stencils, doodles and motifs from the group. Korp brought these together to represent the academy. Even the scales of the Serpentine snake make an appearance! This bird also lives at Westraven Community Garden.
City Wide Bird and Competition Winner
We set a city-wide competition, asking Peterborough residents to send in their designs, one of which would be recreated onto a bird.
We received some great entries from all parts of the city. The designs were all full of passion and colour. There were even tributes to loved ones. The decision to choose just one design was quite hard.
But it was Jovile Karitone’s concept that was the perfect example of what Spread Your Wings set out to achieve and what it symbolizes. It showed Jovile’s hometown in Lithuania and how they missed, loved and creatively celebrated their place of birth and heritage. It also showed how they have made Peterborough home.
Jovile’s story is similar to that of so many Peterborians who have come from inside and outside the UK and have made the city their home – for them and their families. It proved once again how welcoming Peterborough can be and that even seagulls can make you sentimental.
Jovile’s original design was lovingly recreated by artist Jason Duckmanton. Jason worked extra hard to ensure that it was true to Jovile’s winning vision. Jovile even joined Jason to paint some of it as well. A lot of the images were of the docklands, houses and sea front of Klaipėda, Lithuania. The use of the colours also related back to Britain and tie it all together.
Festival goers could see many of the other beautiful designs created through the city competition on display inside the Peterborough Presents dome.
