The beautiful birds have flown

I always knew that this day would come but now that it has arrived I cannot deny that is not tinged with a little sadness, at least for me.  It is the end of an era. The paper birds that were on display at North Tyneside’s offices on the Cobalt Business Park have finally come down.

It is a long story of how I got involved in ‘Flight’ a piece of work by Annette Chevallier, a local artist but it followed our move to the shiny new offices in, at the time, Europe’s fastest growing business park.  Somehow I had gained the honour of looking after the soft facilities management for this glass and steel edifice.  Inside it had pristine white walls, a long corridor which we called the street and a three storey glass fronted atrium all of which were crying out to display something.

I had never been involved in the arts and was a complete novice but I felt that there was a real opportunity to use the available white spaces to display the work of local artists.  Of course we had no money, or at least very little and so I begged the high school art departments to show their students work.  It was a fun time and I got to meet some wonderful people and it was especially nice to see the young students and their parents come down to have a look at their work on display.

But the atrium remained a difficult space to fill.  It was long and deep and required pieces of a particular shape and quality.  We displayed a fabulous tornado-like installation made from blue polypropylene fishing net but I regret that I cannot remember the artists name and when that came down we looked for something a little more permanent.  That’s how I became involved in Annette’s work.

“Flight” was originally commissioned for The Bridge by Friends of Tynemouth Station and displayed in the bridge over the railway lines.  The inspiration for the work came after Annette was walking home across the bridge at Tynemouth Station after attending a peace rally in Newcastle following the invasion of Iraq.  The origami birds are cranes, a traditional symbol of peace, and reflect the artist’s feelings at a time of conflict – a celebration of peace in the aftermath of war.

If I had my time again I would like to have been more involved in the arts.  I don’t consider myself to be a creative person but it was a great pleasure to spend some time with people who were.  They were able to bring a different perspective to the quotidian grind. 

Since I left North Tyneside Council, I have driven past the building on many occasions and the sight of the birds hanging in the windows always brought a smile to my face but not anymore.  It’s the end of an era but I’m going to pretend that they have flown away to a much happier place.

More information on ‘Flight’ can be found here, with some pictures of them hanging up and them coming down.  Has anyone got a hanky?