Community Art Installation on College Green
Portents is one of the biggest community art installations Bristol has ever seen. A huge tent city will appear on College Green on Saturday 18th September – each tent encapsulating the hope and dreams of communities from all round the city.
For 9 days, from Saturday 18th to Sunday 26th September, College Green will be filled with 50 tents printed with images created by schools, churches, community groups, individual artists – a complete cross section of 21st century Bristol. Portents is led by John Easterby and the Pierian Centre, the team who hung the 4-metre high iWITNESS banners at Temple Meads – and is part of Bristol’s contribution to the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.

Over a thousand people have been involved in Portents. Groups and individuals across Bristol were asked to respond to the theme of Home, Histories and Hope in creating images and poems to be printed on their tent. The range of artwork is extraordinary, and includes some very moving verse and prose. Each individual tent is a real work of art, but the project only shows its true colours when the tents are brought together into one great encampment. Portents is a celebration both of the diversity of modern Bristol and of the richness and strength that results when these different elements work together.

John Easterby, the lead artist, grew up in Bristol. “I wish I’d worked on more projects like this during my career,” he says. “I’ve learnt such a lot from Portents, seen people at their finest and most dignified, worked with passionate and dedicated colleagues – and rediscovered Bristol, a wonderful, warm and diverse city that has a humanity, humour and sense of optimism unlike any place I’ve visited in recent years.”

The Launch of Portents takes place on College Green at 1.15pm on Saturday 18th September (with marquee cover if wet). This will bring together many of the participants, together with speeches, poetry and music – and is followed by the good-humoured cut and thrust of a Speakers Corner at 2.15pm. The day before, Friday 17th, will have seen a great gathering of community groups as Portents participants come together to erect the 50 tents from noon onwards.

The Portents encampment is both a 3-dimensional art gallery and a focus for meetings and activities throughout the week. There will be artists and writers in residence – and a number of special events. Tuesday 21st September is World Peace Day – and Portents becomes the focus for a range of different activities. On Friday 24th people are invited to join Stephen Williams MP to discuss community cohesion and the Big Society over lunch.

Portents is a free event, created by Bristolians and open to all. It runs from Saturday 18th to Sunday 26th September – and opening hours are 9am–6pm (Fri, Sats & Suns) and 9am–7.30pm (Mon–Thurs). For more information please contact 0117 924 4512 or info@pieriancentre.com.