The Blake mural has been painted over by the Council

[Siduhe]

The one bit of info we haven't had from the Councils is who the "individuals who were involved in the original work and it was suggested to [the Council] that blanking the lower half of the mural was better than the leaving the wall as it was".

It's not the Dulwich Society and it doesn't appear to be the owners of the wall in question.

It's quite an important point IMHO because if the Council were responding to legitimate concerns from "stakeholders" with a direct interest in the mural or the Goose Green area, you can kind of see why they approached it as they did. If there were no such concerns or the concerns were expressed by people who aren't directly involved, then just painting over the mural is far less defensible.

I take Sean's point that we shouldn't judge on half the info, but the fact that the Council can't identify any department that authorised this action does call into question (in my view) how considered this action actually was.

If any counsellors are reading, it would be good to get an answer on this point too. Appreciate the Council can't and shouldn't name names, but an indication of who approached the Council on this (nearby residents, Friends of Goose Green or similar) would be helpful and might dispel some of the suspicion that this is a straighforward c*ck-up by an over enthusiastic contractor.

[lozzyloz]

To quote Jon Sheaff's memo above, "I am relieved that the current arrangement is "temporary""

Surely it would've been far more cost effective to restore the mural rather than paint over it first then restore with the added time wasted in an e-mail witch hunt and reams of paper flying around. Will this become another 'Walnut Whip' on the council tax for ED residents?

[candj]

Hi Siduhe,

What I gathered was that the council most definitely know who actually painted over the mural. Rather than naming him/her and placing the blame entirely on them they are trying to move forward and rectify the problem quickly. I believe that a teacher involved in the original mural was unhappy with the increasing amount of graffiti tagging and wanted the council to take action. Through a break down in communication and a series of misunderstandings, the mural got painted over. Hopefully, lesson learned by the council and in future there will be more consultation on public artwork.

[Siduhe]

Thanks candj - I certainly agree there's no point in outing the person who painted the mural. Thanks for the info about the original report - sounds fair enough to me.

[p_in_ed]

I?ve exchanged emails with Stan Peskett, who tells me he is now resident in the USA. It makes re-instatement more complicated, but not, I would hope, out of the question.

It would be great if the Council, as a gesture of goodwill, could cover the costs of engaging Stan to re-instate the missing parts of the mural.

Jon Sheaff says in his post earlier in this thread:

?If possible we will look at working with the community and Stan Peskett to restore the mural back to its former glory, with an appropriate anti-graffiti covering.?

I think this is an excellent proposal. What do we need to do to make this happen?

[beef]

Bimal Kotecha suggested in his letter to Sue;

4) Alternative suggestion from local members is to utilise the space as a "graffiti wall" as this was suggested to be a better option that having a work of art disgrased by constant environmental abuse and anti-social behaviour related to "tagging"

Can I nominate the frontage of the Town Hall as an appropriate location for this graffiti wall?

[lozzyloz]

I'd like to propose a revamped modern interpretation of Blakes vision by some local talented graffiti artists. Perhaps chosen through a competition by way of a spray-off held on Peckham Rye (or perhaps the Town Hall).

[IngridB]

Dulwich OnView, the FDPG local community blog, has somthing about it too: http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2008/09/23/angels-and-some-little-devils They have contacted the councillors and asked them to respond on the blog. Watch that space.

[PeterJohn]

I was sorry to hear from Gordon Nardell that this has happened - and horrifed by the what has been done! It can't really be classed as sympathetic restoration - but does have the appearance of a well intentioned but poorly executed clean-up. There appears to be a real will to properly restore the mural, and I hope that this happens. A lesson the Council could usefully learn - if you are going to undertake work like this in East Dulwich, start a thread on this forum first. Things like this can so easily be avoided if you trust the community to help provide a solution.

Cllr Peter John

Labour Councillor for South Camberwell

[TJ]

Or of course, the council could engage their collective noggins in advance.

Peter -

Every person involved, from the executive to the bloke who did the actual painting should have stopped, taken stock of the situation and checked again.

You don't have to ask an internet forum if painting a wall bright blue is a good idea - particularly if it involves painting over something which has clearly taken a great deal of time an is in such a public space (with graffiti or not).

You are the people we have placed our collective trust in. You need to remember it is us who you pledged to serve, and you (and all your colleagues) should consider our likely opinions in every action you take.

I hope now some red faced 'executives' will be seen on Goose Green very soon.

[TJ]

Following an email sent to the councilors on this thread, James Barber thinks we should blame the ones doing the painting. I quote...

Agree this has not been handled well and will get resolved bt surely your ire should be directed at the numerous people who sprayed graffiti on this mural.

I am wondering if he refers to the big blue tag?

[Nero]

For heaven's sake! These effing council officials. The person who decided to half paint over a highly visible and loved mural in the midst of Observerville in municipal blue, is lacking a good deal of common sense. I can do without James Barber's headmistressy proclamations! Sheesh.

[Mrs Y]

Southwark News page 9 seems to be on the case as well.

[Sue]

I received this today .....

Hiya Sue,

Just to give you a quick update. I have heard that the mural matter is now being dealt with by our Culture and Leasure unit and specifically one of the senior members from the team named Anya Whitehead. I have not personally contacted her to get an update, but if you would like to get in touch to learn more about any planned works and any potential stakeholder consultation, that I imagine and would hope will be taking place, please direct your inquiry to [email protected] or 0207 525 3552.

This matter is definitely something of high priority and I agree with your sentiments that it would be a shame if the mural was covered up. A little chineese whisper that I was able to gain during my pursuit of the matter yesterday mentioned that the artist that had originally painted the mural was to be contacted about touching up the effected area so, it appears that there is a shared view from officers and the local community to try and regenerate the artwork back to it's original state. However, the artist aparently lives in California, so it may take a bit of time to arrange all the pragmatic issues, and again, this was second hand news so please do not take this as the agreed and/or final option. I will of course do my best to keep you posted on any further details and community consultation matters that I learn about.

I hope this is somewhat helpful and if for any reason the contact that I mention above turns out to not be leading on the project, please feel free to come back to me and I will do my best to get some definitive officer details....

Kind Regards,

B

[TJ]

Touching up the affected area..

That's one way of putting it.

Muppets

[Sue]

To be fair, this guy is trying to be helpful.

[Sue]

I've received another email from Bimal - here's an extract.

...I was contacted by the artist himself yesterday and have steered him towards the contacts that I gave to you. Fingers crossed this will assist to speed up matters and lend toward a touch up rather than deletion of the mural.

[dc]

TJ Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Or of course, the council could engage their collective noggins in advance.

>

> Peter -

>

> Every person involved, from the executive to the bloke who did the actual painting should have

> stopped, taken stock of the situation and checked again.

> ....

> You are the people we have placed our collective trust in. You need to remember it is us who you

> pledged to serve, and you (and all your colleagues) should consider our likely opinions in

> every action you take.

>

> I hope now some red faced 'executives' will be seen on Goose Green very soon.

You appear not to be aware that Peter John, who is Leader of the Labour Group on the Council, is not on the Executive to which he and you refer so don't be too harsh. He represents the area that overlooks the mural, not the mural itself. Since 2002 the Council has been controlled by the LibDems and Tories - just in case you didn't realise.

[TJ]

I have had some emails from council members, and it seems there is a fair old stink being raised about this.

i mean... blue??? even white would have been better...

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

I'd still like to know who made the decision to deface* the mural in the first place.

*With the big blue block of paint

[????]

I kind of feel I've strolled into a Jeeves novel

[????]

..no, it's more.kind of Pooterish. EDF IS POOTERISH...I'M ENLIGHTENED, THAT'S IT.

[PeckhamRose]

Saw John Beesley today (he who's written history of Peckham and is editor of the Peckham Society Newsletter). They're on the case, too. It will also be mentioned in the forthcoming edition of the Peckham Society News (a lovely little magazine which won the second prize for the best local society magazine in the UK, a few months ago).

[dc]

John Beasley

[PeckhamRose]

That's the fella. By the way what is 75 + 26?