At the Station Hill cafe - pic: Patricio Forrester
Miniature paper sculptures of houses have been flooding to the Hill Station cafe on Telegraph Hill, as part of a local charity, Bold Vision’s, latest venture, The Mixer Home Run.
The pocket-sized artworks are each made from the first issue of new community publication, The Mixer. The editor, Susan Edwards, said a key aim of the project was to create a multi-purpose pamphlet with creativity at its centre.
She said: “Art has transformative powers, we do believe in that… In all our publications we’d like there to be something else you can do with it.”
On their final day of term, the year 6 class of Edmund Waller primary school, Lewisham, each made a house of their own. These now adorn a wall of the Station Hill cafe.
Ruby, 10, and Dot, 11, told EastLondonLines about their houses. Ruby’s house has an underwater theme, with paper fishes and a shark. She said: “I like turquoise and so I thought I would do the sea… It was really fun finding all the stuff to use.”
Dot recycled fliers and metallic Christmas paper to create her house. It features her name written in different languages, including Greek, Russian, and Chinese. She said: “It was fun… It was really interesting seeing everyone’s at the end.”
Patricio Forrester, a local artist central to the Home Run project, is pleased with the response, and the imagination shown in the returned houses. He said: “the most creative ones were those that had a troubled beginning.”
Now the holidays have begun, families stopping by for refreshments have been assembling and decorating houses of their own. Lucy, who works at the cafe, has made a particularly artistic contribution. She said: “It’s fun to do, and it’s entertaining to watch how they develop.”
Building on the success of the first issue, Susan and Patricio are already planning the second, with the help of guest editor and former head teacher, Graham Jameson. His issue will be released in February to coincide with the Telegraph Hill Festival. The theme will be 6,000 hills, to correspond with the 6,000 households that make up Telegraph Hill’s community.
Susan said: “We are about collaborative work. Graham is already thinking about his issue and people want to write about people they are already interested in. Within the community we are trying to be as inclusive as possible for those who wish to be included.”
The next issue will also double as an art project. Susan believes this will be just as successful as the Home Run houses, although she did admit, “I haven’t done my own yet! I have a pink feather, which I’ll use when I do make one!”
