A new artist designed brass rubbing trail has been installed along the Riverside Walkway in time for the schools half term break. The brass rubbing trail is part of the Sidmouth Makes Art (SMArt) partnership project lead by Sidmouth Coastal Community Hub and Sidmouth School of Art.
There are an initial 100 free brass rubbing trail packs with information about the brass rubbing plaques, the project and how to do a brass rubbing with paper and crayon included available at Sidmouth Tourism Information Centre (TIC).
The trail is part of the transformative journey to revitalise this little used and rather unloved place to reconnect people with nature, for everyone to enjoy and look after this beautiful space.
The trail has 9 brass rubbings to discover, the plants and animals they depict are part of our rich local ecosystem. The images were created by local artist and print maker Emma Molony, who has been leading a series of participatory print workshops with young and older people for example Sidmouth College, InFocus and The Memory Cafe.
Artistic Director Coco Hodgkinson said:
„The brass rubbing plaques are beautiful in themselves and provide a free accessible fun activity for children and families to do whilst enjoying the space. The trail encourages everyone to find out about the biodiversity in the River Sid and to see if they can spot the species in real life.“
A deposit and return scheme for a special brass rubbing kit with a badge to claim on completion is also available at the TIC.
The community workshops feed into the wider project which will see new art led visual artboards in the walkway bays as they are repurposed as outdoor galleries. These are being designed to reflect the project themes: Fishing Heritage -The History of Boats and Fishing in Sidmouth, Biodiversity in the River Sid, The River Sid Source to Sea, The Jurassic Coast and the History of The Ham.
Ed Dolphin, Sid Valley Biodiversity Group and Nigel Hyman – Sid Vale Association and Sidmouth Museum and Jon Ball – Sidmouth Arboretum are advisers to the project with Sidmouth In Bloom providing planters. The project is funded by the Arts Council England, Sidmouth Town Council, Sid Vale Association, East Devon AONB, Devon County Council and the Arts Society Sidmouth.
New railings and seating have been installed and new wayfinding signage to give the walkway a new destination profile.
More details about the project can also be found here Riverside Walkway Revitalised | Sidmouth School Of Art (sidmouthart.org)