The Junction’s St Andrew’s Quay retail park has launched a community art project in Hull, comprising a series of workshops that could lead to the painting of a mural celebrating the site’s heritage.

The Junction is hosting these workshops in its POD on St Andrew’s Quay retail park and is jointly organising this project with Artlink, a local charity dedicated to developing and delivering a range of high quality community arts activities and events.

The first set of workshops for children and young people are taking place now, later in April there will be adult workshops, which will be supported by STAND, Hull’s fishing heritage association.

The site upon which The Junction’s retail park is situated has significant history behind it. St Andrew’s Dock was originally designed for the coal trade, however by the time it opened in 1883 it was earmarked solely for the use of the fishing industry.

The Junction and Artlink have specifically designed the workshops to use the fishing heritage of the site as inspiration; and the upper floor of the POD is an ideal location for this as it overlooks the whole area. Following the workshops, the creative pieces that are presented will provide the basis and inspiration for a mural which will be painted onto an entrance wall at The Junction’s St Andrew’s Quay retail park in celebration of the sites heritage.

Lois Williams, Responsible Business Manager at The Junction, said “We have always been very aware of how important this site is to local people, and we feel it is important to maintain and celebrate that memory, especially amongst the younger generation. We’re delighted to have such strong local support for this project on our park, and are looking forward to seeing the results.”

Sarah Pennington, Arts Development Worker at Artlink, says “We and the artists involved are very excited about this “Fish and Ships” project. Each workshop will employ different techniques and materials (such as collage and printmaking) to create a range of enchanting imagery, inspired by the fabulously rich heritage of the docks, which will be incorporated into the mural design. The workshops will be relaxed, fun and open to children of all ages, encouraging creativity and developing appreciation of the Heritage of the area throughout.

The next workshops are Friday 4th and Saturday 12th April. All workshops are free and run from 12.30pm - 4.30pm.