A stunning new community artwork has blossomed on Sidmouth’s Wallspace, bringing a burst of colour and creativity to the town just in time for spring. Titled The Million Flowers Community Art Project, this vibrant installation celebrates the beauty and diversity of flowers in Sidmouth, both garden planting and wild flowers.
The project was initiated by artist Maureen Hawkridge and the Exploring Art group of Sidmouth u3a, who led the Our Town community art project in 2022/2023. Maureen’s flower mural idea was inspired by the vision of local benefactor Keith Owen, with one of his suggestions being to fill Sidmouth with flowers.
The Exploring Art group made paintings of flowers to inspire the other participants, and ran flower painting workshops throughout the summer of 2024 which were open to all.
Workshops in local schools were facilitated by Sidmouth School of Art and run by Exploring Art volunteers. Flower paintings were also contributed by local art groups and by people working at home. 401 people aged from 4 to 85 contributed their paintings, and the finished artwork contains over 500 flowers, leaves, butterflies and insects. Maureen used Photoshop to digitally collage all the flowers into a finished piece of art.
The project was kindly supported by the Sid Vale Association’s Keith Owen Fund and Sidmouth School of Art. In the 15 years since the Keith Owen Fund was established, over one million pounds in grants has been given to organisations within the Sid Valley for a wide range of projects, including some to make a million flowers bloom, such as school and community gardens, community bulb and tree planting, floral displays, wildflower meadows and nature conservation.
The poster is displayed on the Wallspace billboard in the carpark by the swimming pool. Sidmouth School of Art’s Wallspace billboard is a public gallery for everyone. The billboard is a platform to grow confidence, share ideas and create interest: a community space: intriguing, fun and curious. To find out more about the project visit Sidmouth School of Art’s website The Million Flowers Community Art Project | Sidmouth School Of Art where you can also watch the installation video.