Malvern Hills College students add splash of colour to iconic town department store

Art students at @MalvernHColWCG are working on a blank canvas with a difference that will celebrate community spirit in the historic spa town.

Diploma students Vanessa Roxburgh and Sarah Dobson-Wilks are adding a splash of colour to iconic department store Brays, which recently closed its doors for the final time after more than 100 years of trading.

Vanessa and Sarah, who are studying Fine Art & Contemporary Craft at Malvern School of Art, part of WCG, came up with innovative artwork ideas to adorn the empty windows of the department store, which first opened in 1895, until April.

The students chose a theme of vibrant colours for the project and started by “colourwashing” each window. They will reveal a different window from the department store over the course of seven weeks in a specific colour. Each colour will celebrate an aspect of the local community and highlight some of the most important events, occasions and activities.

Vanessa said: “As art students, we are thrilled to be collaborating with Brays – it is such an iconic building in Malvern.

“The management of the store were really receptive to our idea and hope that it will continue to draw people to the high street to visit the nearby shops.”

Yellow was the first colour theme to be used in the project and is being used to showcase one of the most popular dates in the local calendar, the Malvern Well Dressing and Water Festival, which attracts up to 1,000 people to the town each year and has yellow as its colour for 2020. The second colour theme to be used, blue, saw Vanessa and Sarah collaborating with Malvern Party and Balloons.

For the third colour in the project, Vanessa and Sarah chose green to highlight the range of sustainability initiatives in the town.

Vanessa said: “We contacted people in Malvern, through a reusable gifting non-profit organisation, to donate their unwanted goods and items.

“We wrapped the unwanted items we receive in green to highlight and further promote the sustainable-living practices in Malvern.”

Future windows will be revealed with the help of the local community.

While Vanessa and Sarah will be keeping the rest of the colours a secret for now, there is one project which will require some help from the people of Malvern and surrounding areas.

Sarah said: “The final window is intended to be a collaboration with the wider Malvern community.

“We are appealing for people to donate pieces of clean clothing in bright, single colours of the rainbow.

“We are asking for items which are either red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple; and that are plain and without any branding or patterns.

“While we can’t go into too much detail about the multi-coloured project, we hope it will brighten up the day of the people passing by the window!”

Anyone interested in assisting Vanessa and Sarah with their multi-coloured window project can donate items in person at Malvern Hills College reception in Albert Road North.