Artistic salute to Warrington’s war heroes

ARTIST Emma Brown has been busy creating artwork to commemorate Warrington’s World War 1 heroes – and shoppers in the town centre have been able to watch her.
The 26-year-old was commissioned to make a glass mural for the Golden Square Shopping Centre to mark the First World War and the effect it had on the Warrington area.
Emma, who had previously held workshops at local schools and other venues to gather ideas, created the the mural to depict scenes of fighting – particularly the Second Battle Of Ypres, which involved the local South Lancashire Regiment during the 1914-18 conflict.
Another mural will also be on view at Contact Warrington, the borough council’s one-stop shop in Horsemarket Street, with a final animation being projected in the art gallery on the top floor of Pyramid arts centre from July 18 to August 29.
The project was commissioned by Culture Warrington, with additional funding from Arts Council England and Warrington Borough Council.
Emma, originally from Warrington, was proud to show off her skills to passers-by and amazed by the number of people who stopped to take an interest in what she was doing.
She said: “I’m really pleased with how the work looks and I got a lot of great feedback from people. It’s really busy in the centre, and there were a lot of shoppers who looked interested but didn’t want to interrupt.
“So it was mainly when I stopped for a break that they came over. When you’re ‘live drawing’ on to windows in such a public environment, it’s a real conversation starter. While I was working people were giving me a thumbs up or just a friendly smile and pointing it out to each other so it was great.
“I’ve not had that many people watching me work before but I’m quite confident in the way I work now so it was okay.”
Janey Moran, cultural engagement manager for Culture Warrington, said: “Golden Square’s staff team have been fantastically supportive of the project so we’re really looking forward to working with them again.
“This project takes art out of expected places like galleries and into a space which thousands of people use each day.”
Emma, a former pupil at Bridgewater High School in Appleton, also works part-time for Culture Warrington and at The Lowry in Salford. The pieces will form an important part of her artistic.