Comments on: The Channel 4 Big Art Project in St.Helens

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:53:54 +0000

Agree with chunk… the films were great, and shows what talent is out there…. we may not agree with the winners but talent shines through!

By: chunk

chunk — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:59:44 +0000

Just like say well done to all the film makers,

pitty the end result was left with some shandy drinkers from the south who know little or nothing about the town or its people ,there was far better films to represent the town and its people than what they picked.

But eh what do i know………..

Well done to everyone who put the time and effort in to the films ,

congratulations to the winners…..

By: name

name — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:02:00 +0000

best of the best it is,

By: JFDudley

JFDudley — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:50:43 +0000

Lets us now stop the points scoring and all get behind this project.

By: David P

David P — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:10:30 +0000

Well said Andy F, Someone who has grapsed the whole concept of this project. As a former miner myself ( Bold ) I applaud as you say the courage of the former miners of this group to choose something of such beauty and thought provoking qualities that thousands of people per day will see and admire.

By: Andy F

Andy F — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:11:04 +0000

I’m depressed. I honestly cannot understand peoples negative attitude to this project, it is the desperate clutching onto any past remnant of success which has allowed this town to slowly and pathetically disintegrate into a state of social and economic disrepair. I read comments from residents complaining that they are going to have to look at this eyesore for 365 days a year. Excuse me!! If you want to move house then feel free, you’ll be sure to make a tidy profit because I guarantee that the property prices in direct view of ‘Dream’ will rise, due solely to the newly acquired view. Before complaining about having to look at a stunning, awe-inspiring thing of beauty, placed there in order to make us contemplate and engage with our surroundings, our history and our future, why not cast your gaze to the thousands of telegraph poles that scar our landscape, or to the frankly lazy architects and building companies that seem intent on filling every spare piece of land with houses that appear to be exactly the same as every other house that has been built here for the past 40years. Is Dream honestly worse than these?

As for the complaints that the sculpture has nothing to do with mining or St Helens as a whole…. I’d like to offer my most heartfelt congratulations to the miners and steering group who decided not to pursue this path, it was incredibly brave decision by them bourne from their own education and increased knowledge into what art is and what it can do. This is precisely why a vote could not have been opened out to the wider public, if it was, then the safest and most mundane option would be elected and this would not do justice to the memories of the men who worked down the mine. The easiest path is very rarely the right path, surely those guys knew this better than most. If the group had chosen a huge mining lamp, what would this have meant? A mine used to exist here. Thats it, it requires no more engagement, I don’t even need to see the lamp to know this. But with the elongated head of a child, much more complex, further reaching and profound issues are raised. Much of this wider meaning has been stated previously so I won’t reiterate, but from a personal point of view one of the many things it makes me think of is the Easter Island statues, something primitive, timeless, graceful and melancholic, but in the movement from black granite into pristine white I heed a warning and a message of hope; those societies who fight amongst themselves, looking only to the past, will surely die out, but those who seek the future and rebirth will flourish.

Sorry for the length of this rant I’ll stop now.

By: David P

David P — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:01:56 +0000

Yes, lets have something totally original like a 20 Metre giant rugby ball on the site with ’saints fot cup’ written on the side, I’m sure that would make a great visitor attraction, destroy our cloth cap wollyback image and have people flocking in from all over the country in their thousands to see….

By: local resident

local resident — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:00:06 +0000

The people who live around sutton manor do matter along with the people who worked there, its us who have to live with the giant head overlooking our houses. Yes the rugby team is world class so why not have a statue about rugby or something to do with the town itself.

By: Brenda Downs

Brenda Downs — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:43:26 +0000

What on earth would we want winding gear or a miners lamp there, to please just the people living around Sutton Manor ? or the people who worked there? Does no one read up about this project and its aims? Its for the FUTURE and the regeneration of the TOWN. not to keep us deep rooted in the past. Coal has gone and will never return. Glass has nearly gone. We still have a world class rugby team. The ‘Dream’ will give us another identity just like the angel of the north. Again I cannot praise the former miners enough for reconising this. Future generations will recognise the sculpture and be proud of it.

By: local resident

local resident — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:44:38 +0000

I agree with John O and we should have had a choice of designs and the winding gear or miners lamp would have been better than the ‘Dream’. I know it has a miners tally at the base of it but no one will see that until they go close up to it. My dad worked at the colliery at one point and I dont think he would have appreciated a giant head (the ‘Dream’). I used to look forward to seeing the winding gear when coming home from holidays as it meant I truly was home, I dont think it’ll feel much like that anymore.