As part of UnitX, a number of lectures/talks/workshops have been arranged with different people about various different things such as the sandwich workshop with Constance Laisne. No information was given apart from a name, time and place. This put a lot of people off, not wanting to go if they didn't know what it would be about. But not knowing makes me even more curious, as I believe that great things can happen through spontaneity. So Viki and I went along to meet Liam Curtin outside Fred Aldous in the Northern Quarter, as timetabled. He then went on to take us on a walking tour around the area, telling us all about the history, anecdotes, local artists past and present, his involvement in public art, the manchester music scene and everything in between. As I am starting to look at Manchester in my research, the afternoon spent with Liam was priceless. He even talked about Factory Records and the start up of Dry Bar.
Liam was employed by the Manchester City Council in the early 90's as Artist in Residence of the Northern Quarter, so was and is the driving force of all the public art pieces you will find around the area. He also took us to meet Wendy Jones with whom Liam set up Majolica Works in the 1980s. She makes beautiful ceramics and her studio is the oldest occupied building in the area. In Victorian times, the Northern Quarter was a very affluent area, but when the Arndale was built in the 1970s, it became marginalised and run down. But run down areas are the perfect spots for creativity, as studio space is cheap, so artists begin to move in, and with that comes cafes, bars and hangouts, and before you know it, commercial businesses and investors are getting involved, pushing up the prices, making an area more sort after. Which is why I could never afford to live in the Northern Quarter!
At the end of the tour, Liam took us to see his studio, and we went out onto his rooftop garden! I love how unless he had taken us there, we would have never known it existed.
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| NQ Street Sign designed by Tim Rushton and Liam Curtin |
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| Sculpture out side Afleck's Palace designed by David Kemp |
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| Mugs by Majolica Works |
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