Artists' year of mixed fortunes

Banner Theatre Company working with West Midlands Fire Service. Photo: Timothy Allen

By BBC News Online's Ian Youngs

The Year of the Artist is drawing to a close, but the question is - what difference did it make?

According to organisers, 25 million people - over half of the English population - have seen or been involved in one of the scheme's 1,700 projects.

Sculptor John Thompson with his work

The purpose of the year - which was funded by £4m of lottery money - was to take art in England out of the galleries, getting real people in touch with real art.

Projects ranged from theatre companies performing in service stations to dustcarts displaying art on their rounds and a 40ft willow structure being planted at the side of the M5.

Two of the most unusual projects happened in places never usually in danger of being associated with art forms: Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead and Peterborough United Football Club.

The two experiments showed how such a project can pay off - but also how it can go wrong.

"We had loads of people ringing us up telling us our PA system was shagged again," said a spokesman for Peterborough United.

A contemporary composer, Stanislaw Hanse, had composed two pieces of music which were played over the club's public address system - but many fans did not know what they were hearing.

'Pings and things'

"Our PA system is not really up to scratch as it is," the spokesman said.

"We did it before the match and also at half-time at two matches."

He described the music as sounding like "lots of pings and things".

"Like when you throw a lot of cutlery in the air and it lands on the floor. It probably wasn't the right environment for it.

"It was very atmospheric music, and you don't really need atmospheric at the football. Your average football fan is not really going to be into anything quite as subtle as that.

"People rang the control box on their mobiles and said 'Oi, what's going on, what's this?'"

Shipyard success

But at the Cammell Laird shipyard, the experiences were more positive.

For two days a week, Patricia MacKinnon-Day worked alongside the shipbuilders - but while they were constructing bits of ships, she was constructing contemporary artworks inspired by the industry going on around her.

Cammel Laird: Hotbed of creativity

She has been with the company for the whole year, and her creations include art based on the technical drawings, photographs of brightly-coloured flowers planted in disused crane rails and representations of parts of ships made out of salt.

"At the start, the workforce were very amused at some of the goings-on, and were almost scoffing at what she was doing," according to Peter Dunn, Cammell Laird's contract commercial director.

"But as they have realised that she has a serious intent and that she has worked very hard to recreate some of the things she's been working on, I think they have taken her a lot more seriously.

She has managed to charm many of the workforce into helping her, Dunn said.

"By the end of the year, I would say that 40-50% of the workforce will be won over and now have an interest in contemporary art.

"So much so that I heard one or two of them talking and they now want to go over and have a look at the Tate art gallery in Liverpool.

'Interest'

"These are guys that you probably couldn't drag out of the pub most days of the week.

"Without being condescending, they're just not familiar with contemporary artwork but they've now got a bit of an interest."

MacKinnon-Day's work is currently on exhibition at Cammell Laird's training centre.

Starting at 2100BST every day this week, a video is projected onto the yard's giant dock gates, before the public is invited to inspect MacKinnon-Day's other works.

The art establishments of Britain - who dreamt up the idea of Year of the Artist to break down barriers - must be hoping that most experiences were like those had by the Cammell Laird workers.