Poetry and art to refresh Victoria Street in Christchurch

11 July 2013

Poetry and art to refresh Victoria Street

Poems, bright artworks and a new mini-park are among key features of a project to refresh Victoria Street.

Colourful artworks have been installed on street light poles. The designs were created by three recent graduates of the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts and are inspired by elements seen on the street such as a rhododendron and the Victoria Jubilee Clock Tower.

Mayor Bob Parker says the work is one way the Council is working to support businesses and provide a pleasant environment that people will want to visit while longer term rebuild projects come on stream.

The project is part of Christchurch City Council’s Transitional City Programme. The Victoria Street works join other Council-led projects like the Cathedral Square artworks which were launched on Saturday (6 July), and also planters and vibrant street painting in Colombo and Gloucester streets.

Carolyn Ingles, the Council’s Urban Design and Regeneration Unit Manager, says there has been significant community input into the Victoria Street project.

“The business community has been asking for improvements to the area for some time. It was a natural fit with the Transitional City Programme and it is great to be able to support our talented artists by including their work as part of this project.”

New and existing bench seats in two small parks along the street will be enhanced with bold artworks created by students from the School of Art and Design at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.

The character and culture of the street will be reflected in three poems to feature on artworks in key locations. The poems were selected by a panel from 24 submissions. Those selected were: Whakapapa, by Ariana Tikao; Ōtākaro to Victoria by Hinemoana Baker; and Ben Brown’s Victoria Street.

A new mini-park with seats, plantings and lawn area will be developed and set off the street on the National Radiation Laboratory site at 108 Victoria Street.

The addition of a mid-street pedestrian refuge will allow safer passage across the road from Gordon Smith & Sons Fruiterers to The Caxton Press.

Work on the Victoria Street transitional project is expected to be completed within the next few weeks.

For more information on the Transitional City Programme, go to www.futurechristchurch.co.nz/ever-evolving

ENDS

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