Welcome to this blog. It is focussed on the works of the husband and wife team Henry and Joyce Collins, who (amongst other artistic endeavours) created a series of concrete murals in the 1960s and 1970s. If the feeling takes me, I may expand out into concrete murals produced by other artists, but then again I might not.
I do not claim to be an expert on either concrete murals or the works of H&J Collins, but I hope that this blog will inspire a few other people to become interested in these works. Murals are often under threat from the actions or inactions of philistine developers and planning authorities - those by H&J Collins are in particular peril because a lot of their work was commissioned by Sainsburys and British Home Stores. For Sainsburys, these were for town centre stores which either have been relocated or under the threat of relocation to larger out-of-town sites. The more recent trend back to town centre convenience stores may be positive in this respect. And British Home Stores no longer exists, which means their buildings are likely to be redeveloped. But as we shall see, not all is doom and gloom.
Who were Henry and Joyce Collins?
Henry Collins (1910 - 1994) and Joyce Pallot (1912 - 2004) met at the Colchester Art School, and later married in 1938. They lived and worked in Colchester for most of their lives.
They produced regular artwork and murals in a variety of medium, including for the 1952 Festival of Britain.
Their first concrete mural was produced for the local Sainsbury store in 1969.
For much more information, visit the Henry and Joyce Collins website at henryandjoycecollins.co.uk.
Why am I interested in their work?
I grew up in Colchester, in the days when everyone went into the town centre to do their food shopping. The strange concrete picture by the entrance to Sainsburys was something I saw on a regular basis but didn't really take much notice of. A bit later those nice highway planners built a dual carriageway to the south of the town centre, which meant my childhood journey now involved going through one of four subways. These subways sprouted some smaller versions of the strange concrete pictures.
Recently the subway murals have been restored (see the Henry and Joyce Collins website for a film about the restoration work), and some information panels installed. Not only did I notice them afresh, but I now knew who they were by. Which then led to thoughts of "I wonder if there are any more of these around the country'" and then ultimately to this blog. And even to the purchasing of an old copy of Concrete Quarterly, so perhaps you need to be careful where these things can lead you.
My Aim
My aim is to visit all of the Henry and Joyce Collins concrete murals in this country, and then to post pictures of them on this blog. This ambition is slightly hampered by not having a definite list of where they are, so any information would be gratefully received.
I have included a couple of pictures in this posting from the Stockport mural - more on this one in a later posting.
