The unlikely Bristol location being transformed into a changing arts canvas

Walkers and cyclists passing the former Mangotsfield Railway Station will come across a brand new installation by renowned Bristol artists.

The stunning new piece by Lucas Antics (AKA Alex Lucas and Paul Fearnside) features the tiny creatures, bugs and wild plants that call the site home, depicted with the illustrators’ trademark fun twist, to highlight the biodiversity and uniqueness of the area.

It is one of the first pieces of art to be completed as part of an ambitious project that has been years in the making to transform the disused station on the Bristol & Bath Railway Path into a moving creative canvas until April next year.

At the heart of the project is a folly created at the site architects Artel 31 that is playing host to a series of creative installations.

The artwork by Lucas Antics seeks to highlight the biodiversity and uniqueness of the area

Speaking about the new artwork, Lucas Antics say: “Our inspiration for this project was taken from worlds much smaller than our own.

“We wanted to expand on ‘other worlds’ and what happens when you take time to stop and look at the creatures between the grasses and the buttercups. We love that every insect has its own unique voice and story to tell.

“We also incorporated everyday ‘weeds’ into the celebration of life and have taken foliage common to this area of the cyclepath. Hopefully, our mural will bring a sense of fun and humour to honour these tiny heroes. Expect spiders on tall bikes, acrobatic slugs, a trumpet playing snail and some chaotic cockchafers.”

Feral Practice (Fiona MacDonald) recording pieces for a new audio drama for Mangotsfield

Coinciding with the Festival of Nature, sound artist Feral Practice (Fiona MacDonald) has also been exploring the biodiversity of the old station at Mangotsfield, including the inner garden that once belonged to the stationmaster.

During her residency, Fiona will explore and make field recordings of wildlife and collect personal stories from people, towards creating a new audio drama for Mangotsfield.

The artist explains: “The theme of meetings and partings, arrivals and departures lends itself to thinking across species boundaries. It includes, for example, the movement and nesting habits of birds, and how breeding pairs reconnect after time spent apart. While modern humans use Satnav and timetables, birds navigate by the sun, the stars and the earth’s magnetic field.

“The theme of arrivals and departures also evokes the losses and gains of species that Avon has experienced due to climate change, habitat loss and other factors.”

Once a stop on the railway route between Bristol and Birmingham, Mangotsfield Station closed in 1966. The historic platform and stone archways of the original building now form a distinctive part of the railway path, opened by Sustrans in the 1980s.

Mangotsfield Folly will be home to five local artists throughout the year, with project leaders keen to commission emerging artists through a series of bursaries.

Mangotsfield Folly will be home to five local artists throughout the year

Programme curator Suzanne Heath says: “Mangotsfield Station is such an atmospheric site already but we are really delighted that Sustrans, Arts Council England and Emersons Green Town Council saw the potential of bringing more attention to the site through the folly and the creative programme.

“We are really excited about how it will be unfolding over the next year and hope people will use the project as an excuse to come for a bike ride, walk or wheel along the Bristol and Bath Railway Path to see it.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfKcHlLDE4l/

Some of the commissions yet to come include:

• A site-specific public commission by writer Holly Corfield Carr
• Participatory printmaking by artist Nick Hand, who will be bringing his printing bike to Mangotsfield
• Bespoke signwriting by Eric Porter of the Straight and Narrow Sign Company
• Newly commissioned photography capturing the site throughout the year by photographer Charles Emerson

All photos Charles Emerson

Read more: Exciting project unfolding at site of former railway station

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