Newark Creates project The BookBench Trail launched today as part of the Book Festival
A new and interactive sculpture trail has launched today promoting books, art, history and a sense of community.
The Newark BookBench trail includes 11 benches spread across the town, each with a different theme – from history and heritage to personal stories and wildlife.
The benches have been created by artists from across the district and East Midlands through Newark Creates in conjunction with Wild In art, which is responsible for sculpture trails across the country.
The trail is part of Newark Book Festival which starts today (July 11) until Sunday (July 14) but the benches will remain in place until September 5.
A programme of Meet Me At The Benches activities will be running throughout where the artists and local storytellers will host interactive sessions at each bench.
Book festival artistic director Sara Bullimore said it was something they had wanted to do for many years.
“We are very excited for everyone to follow the trail,” she said. “We are hoping a lot of visitors and residents will enjoy the vibrant, colourful benches and explore them over the summer.”
The benches can be found at:
Shimmer and Shine — Riverside Park – designed by Carla Dee
Carla said: “The bench was based on this poem, I don’t know who wrote it but it is about how there are 30 different streams and 30 different fish that come into the River Trent.
“I did a bit of research and I noted that my Uncle Richard travels down the river Trent on his narrow boat so it is very much in honour of his narrow boat which is named after his dog, which sadly passed away last year.”
She encourages people to try and spot the rainbow fish across the bench and wishes to promote diversity, equality and “being your natural self”.
Tales Of Newark — entrance of Newark Castle – designed by Abbi Olla
Abbi was inspired by her walks with her dog and all the green spaces and wildlife she often sees.
“Newark is a town but there is a lot of wildlife and a lot of nature around,” she said.
“I want people to enjoy that and see if they can spot some of the bits that are on the bench when they are walking out and about.”
Corporal Ciapek – The Buttermarket — designed by Nicola Mills
The bench was inspired by Nicola’s grandfather, who was part of the Polish Air Force and moved to England where he met his future wife. He was part of the 503 Squadron, whose mascot is included on the bench.
“I never met my granddad, he died before I was born when he was only 59,” said Nicola.
“When I was doing this I actually went over the Poland to visit so it is about him and the people who came over during the war and settled in Nottinghamshire because there is a resting place for fallen soldiers in Newark. It is a link to my grandad, my family and the flowers they love.”
Newark By Day/Night – Market Place – designed by Paul Fox Goddard
A Newark artist who has lived in the town for 25 years, Paul wanted to represent something that was familiar not only to him but for everyone.
He said: “I thought what is more familiar than walking through the Market Place?
I tried to use the shape of the whole bench and represent the market. I have the Newark skyline with the brollies and then I came down and took a lot of pictures of people walking on the street, so people might be walking past and see themselves painted here.”
Castles In The Air — outside Newark Parish Church – designed by mother and daughter Dahlia Lee and Tryly McIntosh
The pair have designed a book that easily shocks and astonishes each visitor with the amount of detail.
Newark Book Festival Young Ambassadors and Palace Theatre Creative Influencers helped with story-filled and book-fuelled ideas.
The duo said: “I don’t think we could have done it any less detailed. It is how we tend to work and we tend to have a million ideas a minute and we had to fit them all into the bench.
“We had quite a detailed design already and then we had the Young Ambassadors and Creative Influencers and once they got involved they had even more ideas that we needed to add, with all different references, we just had to squeeze them all.”
Noble Newark And Nursery Rhymes — the Palace Theatre – designed by Vicky Kuhn
Vicky found her inspiration in Newark’s heritage and nursery rhymes dedicated to children.
She said: “It is a celebration of Newark and all the key buildings and landmarks in the town and tying with nursery rhymes so it is a fun interactive bench for children to come a spot all the different characters.”
Alphabets — Newark College – designed by Charlotte Adderley
Inspired by letters and different fonts, artist Charlotte Adderley created a quite quirky and curious bench that incorporates different letter fonts, British sign language and braille.
Portable Magic – Newark Library — designed by Rachel Hall
Inspired by the artist’s deep love of books and reading, It features a quote by Stephen King and also Newark author Matt Haig.
The design features different worlds imagined by Rachel emerging from books.
Rapunzel And The Lost Watering Holes – Cartergate – designed by Sally Howarth
This reflects the artist’s love for fairytales and the hospitality industry, where she worked for 30 years.
“I tried to incorporate a bit of my passion into this. There are 25 pubs for people to find on the bench and some are more obvious than others,” said Sally.
Roses And Castles – St Mark’s Place – designed by Melanie Clare
“As a canal artist, I wanted to celebrate the canal art you see on the waterways with narrow boats,” said Melanie.
“I want to celebrate how it was a major transport network, there is a bit of history there, a traditional castle that you often see on the boats.”
Learning Is At The Heart Of Everything We Do — Newark Bus Station – designed by Newark College
The bench is inspired by the importance of education in people’s lives and tries to show how Newark College is a part of the community.
It was painted by four of Newark College’s first-year Art and Design Level three students.
Anyone wanting to follow the trail can find The BookBench Trail maps at Newark Palace Theatre, at the Book Festival and event and in some venues in Newark.
