The Walthamstow Griffin
Walthamstow Griffin by Sandie M Sutton
Flags of our High Street by Alisa Ruzavina
Activating the High Street
A first for Artillery! Our first permanent* public artwork. It was so rewarding to apply our long tradition of openly co-creating cultural programmes with local communities to achieving iconic artworks that will be enjoyed for years to come.
Funded by the Mayor of London’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, this project grew out of passions shared with Associate Artists, Sandie M Sutton and Alisa Ruzavina, for Walthamstow High Street, for our fragile ecology and environmentally sustainable practice, for stories, and for creative co-creation that engages many voices, especially people who feel disenfranchised from the commercial and public realm decision making of our High Street, including market traders, independent retailers and businesses, young people, and mental health support groups.
Through this collaboration a major and bold new public realm sculpture, 3m in size, has been created for Walthamstow High Street together with a vivid collection of textile artworks: Our Flags of High Street Treasures.
The Walthamstow Griffin
More Information
In Summer 2022 Artillery was awarded funding to create a suite of contemporary artworks inspired by the under-told stories of the people and heritage of Walthamstow High Street. In December 2022 we unveiled the major new sculpture by Sandie M Sutton flanked by a unique collection of flags co-created with artist Alisa Ruzavina, all welcomed to their High Street home with A Winter Feast of music, stories, games and delicious food to share.
Make Your Own Griffin
Download our step by step instructions to make your own griffin.
Teacher Resource Pack
This Teacher Resource Pack is designed to support teachers of KS1 and KS2 to take inspiration from The Walthamstow Griffin in their teaching of:
- ART… 3D work and Sculpture
- ENGLISH… Myths and Mythical Creatures
- ECOLOGY…. Plastics & the Environment
- HISTORY… Ancient Cultures
- GEOGRAPHY… Wonderful Walthamstow
- PSHE… Valuing & protecting our community
The pack includes activities, links to our creative resources & information about booking sculpture workshops.
Key Stats
519
People involved in design and creation
2
Associate Artists
32
Volunteers
43
Artists worked on the project
116
High Street businesses involved
Acknowledgements
A project by Artillery CIC and Associate Artists
Artists: Sandie M Sutton & Alisa Ruzavina
Project Team: Morag McGuire, Laura Kerry, Jessica Hudsley Events, Kirsty McNeil, Hattie Scott, Felicity Jones Metal
The Winter Feast: commissioned by Waltham Forest Council as part of Small Business Saturday and produced by Artillery CIC in partnership with Jessica Hudsley Events and Associate Artists Sandie M Sutton and Alisa Ruzavina.
The Walthamstow Griffin sculpture was possible thanks to funding awarded by the Mayor of London as part of the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm and supported by Waltham Forest Council.
With thanks to all our project partners, Mayor of London, Waltham Forest Council, St James Street Big Local, Twenty First Century Land, Ambar Installations, L&Q for a donation, and Sainsburys for overnight storage for our scissor lift!
Thanks to our volunteers, and everyone who donated the plastics including pupils at Stoneydown Park Primary School.
Huge thanks to the landlord of Golden Cakes for agreeing to have the sculpture installed on the building. It is a very apt location, especially as the property owner has been part of the High Street community all his working life, and started as a linen trader from that building.
Students of Leyton Sixth Form College made a stop-motion documentary of the installation process.
With thanks to all the community collaborators involved in co-design of the flags
Community Partners: Waltham Forest College, The Gleaners & The Hornbeam Centre, Waltham Forest, Antigua, Barbuda and Dominica Twinning Association, The ELMS, The Mill, NBAM.
Co-Facilitator & Design Support: Sam Griffiths. Exhibition installation: Simona Pesce. Flag Makers: Mika Sembongi, Jennie Caminada, Kaori Yatsumoto, Ellie Horry, Carolyn Abbott. Anita O’Brien and Sara Shimasue. Volunteers: Jenny Greenfield and Amanda Chaloner.
And all the high street traders who have gifted us their time, stories and opinions.
The collection of flags are available for community groups to borrow for local events by arrangement: please email events@artillery.org.uk
Project Partners
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Image Credits: The Walthamstow Griffin, Flags of Our High Street, 2022 © Penny Dampier and Sam Griffiths
Film of the installation by Leyton Sixth Form Students: Bartosz Bester, Ayan Raja, Dragomir Bozev