Why should you ‘Put a Lid on It’?

Feb 12

The whole Put A Lid On It project started back in March 2023. It grew out of an idea I had of decorating the back of the Pavilion. There had been a temporary art installation from the creatives of Carousel Art. But, while their fabulous designs drew visitors and viewers over the Summer of 2022, I wanted something more permanent, and more ‘Woodfieldy’! The back of the Woodfield is a big white wall - we needed something more.

So along came The Art of Cut and Paste - a small local organisation that ran workshops in the local community to create artworks in a sustainable way, reusing and recycling materials, run by artist Uki Otake. The plan was simple. Can we make 2 pieces of art big enough and robust enough to sit on the back wall of the Woodfield Pavilion all year? Uki’s wonderful designs, depicting many of our local wildlife, now adorn the space where the windows once were - before the building was renovated. The bright and bold pictures bely the face they are reused plastic bottle tops on a couple of old shower curtains.

But it’s not what they are that makes them so special… but how they got to be.

Each panel (and we’ve made several now!) takes the contribution of many. Uki plans the pictures and copies them onto the shower curtain. Everything is hand sewn, every hole in the lid is drilled by Philip and his drill; every lid has been collected and donated by hundreds of local passers by - and the more you find the more you get rather obsessed with finding more (yellow are particularly prized!) . But it’s not just the work that makes these panels so special. They have become the source of community, of gentle natters over a needle and thread. Time spent together, creating something lovely out of things that would normally be thrown away.

Ronnie, one of the Woodfield artists can regularly be found here on a Wednesday afternoon adding a bit more to the section he’s been taking charge of. The first time he ‘lidded’ it was “Oh, I’ll helps for 20minutes”. Three hours, and nearly 70 lids later, and he was hooked. Many others just ‘do a bit’. Julietta and Tito pass the Pavilion every day, and on Wednesdays she’ll pop in and make sure she’s contributed her little sparkly button to every piece we make together.

It’s strangely relaxing and surprisingly fun. Putting a Lid on It is a bit like colouring in - the picture has been drawn, there’s a guide to follow. There is no pressure at all to be any good - because, well, it’s a plastic lid and a shower curtain. But your shoulders will drop, you might chat to someone, you might be content working away in peace and quiet. It’s warm and dry in the winter, cool and beautiful in the summer. There’s usually art on the wall to add to the pleasure.

The panel grows with every addition of button and lid and thread - and community.

Because that’s what we’re really making.

So come and have a go. Wednesdays 12-3. No skill required.

Janet