The art group behind a beautiful mammoth mural at a Norfolk seaside town has launched a new initiative to help local artists turn their passion into a career.
Sheringham Art has unveiled a 95-foot-long hand-painted mural of a scene from the last Ice Age at the town’s East Promenade.
The mural is painted on 127 recycled scaffolding boards and took four years to complete.
The project was inspired by archaeological discoveries at the north Norfolk coast, including the oldest human footprints found outside of Africa and the world's most complete Steppe mammoth skeleton.
The footprints, dated at between 850,000 and 950,000 years old, were found in Happisburgh, and the mammoth skeleton was uncovered in West Runton.
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Sheringham Art has also announced it will be supporting local artists with a series of planned projects which aim to get the public to participate in transforming dull spaces in the town.
Through these high-profile public art projects the group hopes to generate publicity, driving sales of local artists’ work, which will be displayed in a new online gallery.
Artists are invited to apply to join the virtual gallery and successful applicants will be given expert time to develop a professional digital profile with written copy, mock-ups and high-resolution photography of their work.
Sheringham Art will create limited print editions on their behalf, mitigating the start-up costs facing artists wanting to go it alone.
The group hopes to position artists’ work as souvenir alternatives for tourists, inviting them to take home a piece of the community that directly supports the artist and future public projects.
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Colin Seal, a founding member of Sheringham Art, said the recently unveiled mammoth mural is the first in a series of planned artworks by the volunteer group.
“Important historical discoveries have been made along our coast, and we wanted to do something to celebrate our deep history," Mr Seal said.
"We have so many talented artists in our town and getting them all together on a big community project was a long time ambition for Sheringham Art."
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