Goldsmiths Master Plan

There’s still time to have your say – exhibition is in the refectory of the main old building (on Lewisham Way) . Poster display including New X ING ideas. Get along and be heard. This affects all of New Cross.

Shared Histories

The Lewisham Local History Society has had a chance to showcase a few choice pieces from its fascinating trove of treasures stored at New Cross Learning. They have been working in partnership with the Goldsmiths Collection during the Shared Histories exhibition in April/May.

We were excited to introduce the exhibition’s curator Jenny Doussan to the society so that artefacts of New Cross’s manufacturing past (including Twinings tea, a box of Turkish Delight and the air meter pictured above) could reach a wider audience.

A small kitchen table laid for tea suggested daily life in Lewisham in years past while an iPad detailing the history of the items at all four exhibition spaces reminded viewers of more modern technologies. With Goldsmiths contributing a range of art pieces, including 19^th century etchings, early 20^th century paintings of local activists, and contemporary art from its graduates alongside Lewisham Local History Society highlighting the area’s more practical creativity, the exhibition connected Lewisham’s rich and varied histories.

Image: Vane Type Air Meter, model C.4, circa 1980, Lowne Instruments, Ltd., Lewisham

New Cross Grows Summer

Where might you find a thousand sunflowers turning their heads towards the sunshine—the French countryside in high summer? Or the A2? One of southeast London’s busiest, grittiest thoroughfares may seem an unlikely spot but it’s true thanks to an unprecedented collaboration between local schools, shops and community groups initiated by New X ING and funded by Grow Wild. In addition to brightening the A2, the flowers will provide much needed foraging for bees in one of the only places  in the country with a growing bee population.

Starting this week, one thousand sunflower seeds will be planted and nurtured in pots in schools and homes across New Cross with a vision to bring growing sunshine to the A2 this summer. Local volunteers from Grow Wild, Greenshoots, Common Growth, New Cross Gate Trust, New Cross Learning, Goldsmiths, local schools, shops and homes will be watching over these small seeds in pots and in beds along the A2 and by the entrance to Sainsbury’s next to the petrol station.

Those plants growing in schools and homes will be transplanted over the next few months, with support and maintenance shared among the community. We hope to explore unusual sites for the sunflowers—billboards, roof terraces, windows, balconies, in shop windows and on the pavements—to create an urban wilderness of sunflowers

By late summer, there should hopefully be a landscape of sunflowers, culminating in a Harvest party in September. We’re excited about making the A2 grow wild, grow beautiful.

If you want to help out let us know (email Artmongers.studio@gmail.com)! Next community planting session is Saturday 27 Apr 1-3.30pm by the entrance to Sainsburys. Or join the seed planting session at New Cross Learning baby bounce session Tues 30 Apr 11am-12pm.