Just after I'd finished my residency at Cheltenham my friend and I found ourselves invited to set up a studio in the upper floors of a hardware shop on Broad Street in Birmingham. Another ex student had found it and he took the third floor whilst we had the second. It was damp, fairly dark and full of pigeon shit but it was an exciting opportunity nonetheless. Once we'd cleaned the windows it was a lot lighter and the beauty of the Gas Street Basin was revealed to us. At the time (around 1975) the basin was still a quiet, hidden community of people part of a network of canals that were neglected and, apart from the residents, unloved by the vast majority of people in the city. Back then nobody much ventured up and down the canal banks other than a few hardy souls and the occasional ne'er do well. But we always felt it was a magical place that could be such an asset to the city if only somebody cared...
Nowadays our studio is a fancy Indian restaurant and the Basin is part of the huge regeneration scheme that makes dear old Brum a proper international city...is it any better...be careful what you wish for I guess...
No comments:
Post a Comment