Community Projects

The courtyard at Sainsbury’s superstore in Calne, Wiltshire was the first project by The Calne Artist’s Group. Decorative paving, tree seating and sculpture surrounds the elegant one-storey building.‘Public art projects usually involve a cosmetic tack-on commission but this was different, says David Reeves. ‘We were engaged from the outset, so the craftwork was integral to the building – and to the town itself.’ ‘We wanted to create a contemporary space that relates to the past,’ explains Alan Tilbury. ‘Shopping shouldn’t be just an isolated one-stop trip. The aim was to create a place where people can meet and communicate.’

Until recent years Calne was an English market town in decline with conservation-type buildings ruthlessly knocked down. Then in 1982 the 100-year-old Harris factory closed, leaving a huge derelict site – part of which is where the new Sainsbury’s store now stands. The town’s response was to set up the Calne Project, an environmental watchdog group. Out of this grew the Calne Artists.

Working with Sainsbury’s architects, the group came up with craftworks which are themed round the town’s agricultural and industrial history, Motifs include early Celtic artefacts, the local landscape and Wiltshire’s famous corn circles. Alan Tilbury contributed two tree seats in English oak and fabricated steel, plus a low concave ‘arbour’ seat, while David Reeves designed an ornate forecourt, using Baggeridge brick cobblestones arranged in geometric patterns to evoke corn circles. Fittingly, sculptor Richard Cowdy cast a life-size sheep and lamb sculpture in brass, which sits on a raised hillock in the centre of the courtyard. At either end of the store, cream concrete walls extend to protect the site. Here are set two Celtic roundels based on first-century horse-harness decorations, made in brass by Chris Fixsen and Vivien ap Rhys Pryce.

The latest project celebrates 30 years of the Calne Music and Arts Festival with many of the Calne Artists creating artwork on individual tiles which combine to form a tree surround in the conservation area in Castlefields, Calne.

Any organisation that is interested in discussing a project that brings art or craft into the community or a business environment can contact the Group’s secretary using our contact page.