I didn’t expect the final work to be quite so ambitious or such large-scale, but once started I knew that scale was everything, I wanted to show my thanks to the community and say it loudly! We shared two days of celebratory portrait photography at The Barn in September and October 2023.

Families, friends, pensioners, skate-parkers, nosey-parkers, scooters, Tadcrafters, Tadgrafters, gardeners, tad harriers, local councillors, school caretakers, archivists, historians, librarians, linguists, cyclists, a reverend, a veteran, a florist, the mayor, footballers (on telly), butchers, brewers, a potter, an ironmonger and ‘Marra’ the ice cream man.

The artwork takes the form of a large full colour photographic collage. 4.5m wide x 3.2m high – almost 15sqm. It is to be hung on the back wall of the main hall at The Barn. Hundreds of full-length portraits were taken, digitally cut out and collaged into a vivid and spontaneous memory of a particular time and a place. Adults, children, and babies, buildings, bridges, trees, flowers, a viaduct, an ice cream van, some cows, four dogs, a heron, and a red kite or two. All the detail and colour of a vibrant and creative community pitching in together in a very friendly place with a river running through it. People crowd the landscape, the buildings and structures obscured, and rightly so, for as much as the bricks and mortar dominate our towns in scale, it is the community and individuals within that landscape, that make successful places.

‘Tadcaster extraordinary’… Tadcaster Bus Station Project

‘Commissioning art in the public realm within the Selby/Tadcaster/Sherburn area is a key component of both the regeneration strategies and the Cultural Development Framework of Selby District Council - now North Yorkshire Council. Artist Chris Tipping was appointed in 2022 to work closely with the designers of the Tadcaster bus station refurbishment and the regeneration client team, to create a new artwork as part of this project. As well as the positive, lasting contribution to the public realm, Chris is also working on a linked community project, including working with Tadcaster Grammar and youth/community/arts centre The Barn. This commission contributes strongly to the aims of the Cultural Development Framework to create activity to inspire children and young people’s creativity and integrate artists’ work within regeneration and development schemes.’ Hazel Colquhoun Art Consultant

The Bus Station Artwork will make use of the 150sqm glazed canopy roof to create a colourful and original interpretation of Tadcaster. I have created a strong visual narrative, part abstract and part figurative, inspired by the architectural heritage, natural environment, and community at large in the town today. Tadcaster has some fascinating architecture and associated architectural decoration, especially on the John Smith’s magnificent ‘ornamental’ brewery buildings. Hudson’s Folly, Taddy Bridge and St Mary’s Church are key visual anchors and touchstones for the town. The stained-glass windows of St Mary’s Church particularly are notable for their colour and narrative, unseen or noticed from the outside. Retail signage on the High Street, including the highly original expression atop the entrance to Allen’s Ironmongers, celebrates the architectural, social, brewing & agricultural heritage of the town. I don’t drive. I use public transport to travel all over the country for work and I walk everywhere. My version of Tadcaster is exclusively based around my experience as a visitor, seeing the town with a fresh and curious perspective. Unpicking what I see, putting images and shapes together, creating new stories about the town.