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Interpretation
The Old Cattle Yard and Gateway Sculpture
Future Aims
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Interpretation
Location: Suffolk
A number of boards were defined to be put along the river in strategic points. Each of the boards required different information and styles, so different members of the River Action Group were the main contributors to the text and pictures.
The overall boards had a common “house style” that we had agreed. Then all text was edited by a working committee of the River Action Group. The house style and overall design work was sub-contracted to Ipswich Borough arts department. This did contain costs but the had a significant time scales advantage, significantly increasing project management time. Unfortunately the very good sign company employing disabled people that we had chosen to do the work dissolved and new companies had to be found.
We were keen to use local people and a manufacturer was found. However, the first batch of boards were of a very low standard. Not only did we have problems with condensation between the artwork and the front Perspex, but also after a few weeks the colours faded very badly. It even looked poor for the opening ceremony shortly after installation. We have had a great deal of difficulty in getting the contractor back - they accepted the poor state but did nothing (bills having all been paid). Eventually after threats of legal action this was dealt with in November 2004.
One of the boards was of a totally different design. This is positioned by the wildflower area and is a painting of the area by a local artist with some of the species of flower magnified as a guide.
The advantage with under-spending this budget on boards is that together with some of the contingency we had agreement from the LHI co-ordinator to spend on a wall-mural.
Luckily in order to start this we were able to get funding elsewhere for the wall base coat and anti-graffiti paint. The wall mural was painted by the local artist who also painted the wildflower board. Ideas were put together by an invited audience across all walks of life in Ipswich attending a walk by the river with the artist. She then interpreted this along with their ideas from some of the pictures they supplied. 
Budget had to be kept very tight on this as delays meant that the artist had in fact moved away when we were ready. This has resulted in a mural that takes up half of the wall space but never-the-less is very effective. Amusingly one small figure of graffiti has been added subsequently to the centre of a circle. This if anything adds to its overall effect!
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