IT'S colour and plans galore at the north's only children's arts centre, starting with a one-of-a-kind ceiling of colour, created by local artist Brendan Jamison.
Originally built as an old mill in the 1800s, the Sticky Fingers Arts Centre in Newry has tall windows and high ceilings, making it the perfect setting for an expansive ceiling sculpture.
Embracing the uplifting joy of vibrant colour, suspended foam segments appear to float across the ceiling, creating a rhythm to enchant visitors as they wander through the space.
Jamison titled the artwork Flow and spent eight weeks constructing and installing the 37 sections in seven different colours.
He rolled over 10,000 sheets of foam, inserting each tube into a wire lattice, suspended from the roof.
"I hope the visual feast will ignite the imagination of everyone entering the building. It is important to convey a sense of the magic of this arts centre. It is a unique place for children to enjoy play and creativity in a safe and inspiring environment," explains Jamison.
"Sticky Fingers is like a petrol station for art, fuelling creativity within our younger generation, refilling their tanks and allowing their imagination to flow with happiness in every direction.
"It has been a joy to work on the project with such a friendly team of professionals at Sticky Fingers."
The delighted art centre manager Mark Revels has already seen visitors come up with various comparisons from coral reefs to a rainbow of cloud formations.
Part of the beauty of this sculpture is how it allows people to create their own narrative around it, with the visual stimulus conjuring up lots of different ideas and possibilities of what it could be.
The artwork will remain on permanent display, now part of the fabric of the art centre. It is the first of many improvements at the Upper Edward Street venue.
Sticky Fingers will reopen their re-imagined Imaginarium in spring 2022 with new models expanding the storyland venue. And later in the year they will open their MagicBox theatre, the first dedicated children's theatre in Northern Ireland.
Before then the centre offers a full program to children aged up to 18 years, with early years activities, such as Wee Messers, and Stories and Song, during term time mornings.
The Imagination Lab hosts more structured activities and workshops in the afternoon.
In this space each child has the freedom to create anything and everything - the only limit is their imagination.
And in March the streets of Newry will come alive to a wide range of street theatre, story trails and visual carnival art , when Sticky Fingers host an international children's outdoor arts festival.
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