Rob Lee

© Photograph by Rob Lee

In 2022 Right Up Our Street were successful in receiving one of the Space 2 Create grants in Doncaster and used it to contribute to part of their three year commitment to get to know the community on the Balby St. James Estate.

What is Space 2 Create?

Space2Create is a unique yet simple approach to delivering grants within Doncaster that encourages businesses and individuals within the creative industries (Creative, Digital, Heritage, Leisure and Food sectors), as well as property owners, to:

find alternative uses for town centre units, i.e. enhancing, animating or creating alternative uses for buildings, spaces and places, borough-wide

and/or:

to explore, create, and showcase novel uses of indoor and outdoor spaces - including events, co-working, and to trial innovations (i.e. idea development, via feasibility, viability and business planning)

Space 2 Create

What are Right Up Our Street doing with the grant?

Working with artist Rob Lee and Doncaster Central Family Hub, we created a wall mural on the side of the Central Family Hub building.

"The community focus of this commission was one of the main reasons I was so keen to be involved in this commission. I spend most of my time working on commercial and private projects, so the opportunity to create a piece of public art that would benefit the local community was one I was keen to take. Having never painted in Doncaster before, I was excited to leave my mark in a new city and help brighten it up a little. There is nowhere near enough public art in the UK. There are far too many boring grey walls out there, so projects like these are significant."

Print Your Own Colouring In Sheet

(Click on the image to take you to the download link)

Rob Lee

Our Journey

Visit to Atlas Primary School

We were so excited to kickstart our Space 2 Create work with a visit Atlas Academy Primary School on the Balby Bridge Estate.

Our Project Manager Hayley Beecher was joined by artist Rob Lee who has designed the mural going on the side of the Central Family Hub building.

Hayley and Rob shared with the children of the primary school the design of the mural and also gave out colouring in sheets to inspire the children to visualise what they would like their local area to look like.

"The opportunity to give a talk to the neighbouring Atlas Academy Primary school was a bonus too, and it was great to see the final design printed out on postcards and given to all the children. It was a really rewarding experience speaking to the school about what I do, and why I do it. There’s creativity in everyone, especially children. So, to potentially inspire some of it in them was pretty special.

In the weeks after the talk, when I was working on the mural, every single time they were out at break they’d all wave and shout up to me, “you’re doing a great job, Rob!”. I’ve never experienced that before. It was amazing! To witness the positive effect the mural was having, even before I’d completed it, was a unique experience.

I often attempt to communicate positivity through the abstract shapes and colours I depict in my work. This mural was no different. The finished piece takes inspiration from the Family hub logo - the simple smiley, a symbol of happiness. If this work can bring some happiness into the local space, that's my job done!"

Rob Lee

PRepping the Wall

Youth Club at Central Family Hub

Rob Lee and Hayley visited the Central Family Hub to lead a workshop with the Youth Club. The group were able to engage in the work Rob was delivering whilst designing ideas of their own for artwork across the estate.

Preparing the Colours

Adding Colour to the Big Paint

The Final Paint

Celebration Event

In April we had a fantastic afternoon celebrating Rob Lee’s Mural on the side of the Central Family Hub.

A big thank you to everyone who came along to see the artwork, have a cupcake and take part in some fun creative crafts with Karen Hall. We even had DJ Rob Pearson filling the outdoor area with music.