A FESTIVE ART exhibition,featuring ten x 10 ft high Christmas Nutcrackers with impressive artwork on the plinths, designed by local competition winners, including schools and community groups and also artists, has been unveiled at The Centre, Livingston.
It follows on from a series of year-long art and photography exhibitions, which is part of the mall’s ‘Year of Kindness’ campaign that was designed to bring the community together to uplift the spirits of shoppers when they visit.
The Christmas Nutcracker Exhibition was another great way for the mall to engage with budding artists by running a competition to design the plinths.
Winners chosen by the management team to have their festive scenes printed on the plinths, include Skye McLeish, a very talented pupil at Cedarbank School, who used lots of bright Christmas colours to bring her festive artwork, entitled, ‘My Favourite Time of Year’ to life. It features beautiful Christmas trees, holly, robins and candy canes, reminding her of everything she loves about this special time of year.
Chris Young, a visual artist from Livingston, has also been included in the trail with his ‘Togetherness’ artwork which represents memories of his teenage years growing up in the town.
Chris is currently co-curating an exhibition at Howden Park Centre, titled: Carving Concrete – A Brief History of Livingston Skatepark. As part of the exhibition Chris has designed and painted a large-scale artwork on the back wall of Livingston Skatepark.
As well as seeing their artwork on display as part of the exhibition and their inspiration behind it, each artist also received a Gift Card to spend at the shopping centre.
Ashley Bisland, Deputy Centre Director at The Centre, Livingston said: “Our Christmas Nutcracker Exhibition culminates a fantastic year of art and photography exhibitions which we’ve been featuring in the mall as part of our ‘Year of Kindness’ campaign.
“This year it was important for us to work closely with the community to help give them a platform to showcase their talents and also brighten up the day for our shoppers when they visit the mall.
“We’re confident our shoppers will love our giant, brightly coloured Christmas Nutcrackers located around the mall and enjoy reading all about the incredibly talented artists we were honoured to work with who designed the plinths.”
Carol McDonald. Acting Head Teacher at Cedarbank School, said: “I would like to congratulate Skye on her outstanding achievement getting her beautiful, festive artwork included in The Centre’s Christmas Nutcracker exhibition.
“Everyone at Cedarbank School is extremely proud and excited that the wider community will also experience Skye’s wonderful talent.
“We are all really looking forward to visiting The Centre to see the work of all of the winning artists in the exhibition.”
The mall’s giant-sized ‘Message of Kindness’ mural made up of heart-felt messages by people in the community was the first exhibit featured this year, followed by the unveiling of ‘All Roads Lead to The Centre’ by artist Gregor Louden, originally from Livingston, which pays tribute to people who have gone above and beyond to help others in the community.
