‘Legends Calling’, one of 14 installations that make up Wembley Park’s new Art Trail is created by renowned artist, lighting designer and Foundation Art & Design student Louisa Smurthwaite. The work comprises three iconic (K6) red telephone boxes honouring Brent celebrities George Michael, Twiggy, Arthur Wint, Amy Johnson and Jeyaben Desai.
Lou tells us a bit more about the installation:
"The brief started with the phone boxes, how would you fill them? It was pretty open… It was the early stages of lockdown when I started thinking about the phoneboxes… the inclosed space resonated with me, and I was doing a lot of staring out the window. Staring into a thought infinity - I wanted to convey a sense of never ending in the small space. You were looking into a phone box, which end 2ft in front of you, but what if it didn’t? It felt a bit 'Doctor Who'. I started looking into the location the boxes were to be situated and from there, researched local stories. I picked ones that I found inspiring, ones that taught me about people or actions I hadn’t previously known. It made me want to shine a light on the stories, and I wanted other people to be be sparked by them, and for them to investigate too. I like that ‘unknowns’ stand next to celebrities, it hope it makes people wonder."
City Lit Foundation Art & Design course:
"I finished the Foundation Art & Design course this summer. It made a huge difference to my work. I made me break out of always trying to problem solve a design and made me way more inquisitive to other influences a subject matter may have. It made me get back to pen and paper, start from the beginning again, which I had forgotten to do over the years. The tutors were great guidance, they let you make your own mistakes. It was all a bit of a strange end to the course due to COVID, but a few months down the line I can feel the things I learnt over the year making positives practices."
‘Legends Calling’ is on until January 2021.
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