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Victoria baths
Alison Kershaw and Gill Wright recount the developments that brought art to a unique Grade II* listed building.
Like the best art projects, my work with Victoria Baths began with an informal chat at an art launch. Gill Wright invited me to get involved because she believed art could play a part in the future use of the building. I've worked with Gill and the others since Arts Council England's Year of The Artist in 2000. I was working nearby in an open studio (St Luke's Art Project), which I set up to provide facilities and access to artistic practice for people experiencing mental or emotional distress. At that point in 2000, the Victoria Baths Project, led by volunteers, was applying to National Lottery funds to become a Healthy Living Centre, which was the latest buzz at the time. Gill had seen some of my work and thought it fitted well with the concept - knowing the building as I did, I saw other opportunities, and things evolved from there. When the Healthy Living bid failed in 2002 (still probably the most appropriate use of the building), the work of artists, always enthusiastic about atmosphere of the place in its dilapidated state and oblivious to the problems, helped to give a moral boost to the campaigners. In my first intervention at the baths I wanted to examine the...
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