Dreaming Spirals

Here are the superdragons by the Transporter Bridge.  In case you haven’t come across a Transporter Bridge before, this page tells you about the one in Newport.

Newport’s has a platform to take cars and people across the river.  It has just been reopened after several years being in disrepair.

This is the top level – you can walk up those steps and across the top on some bank holidays but I’ve never stomached it!

This dragon is called One Flew Under the Transporter Bridge and the artist is Anthony Davies.  Those are two of my sons in the background with their young Spanish cousin, Pablo.

This one looks like it is covered with wrinkled silver foil (very effective) and it is called Reflections of Nature.  The artist is Cerian Price.

I’m going to be at the Festival of Quilts from Thursday to Saturday – hope to see you there!

This dragon is upstairs in the museum and library building.  It is the Light Emitting Dragon by Mark Graeme Lewis.

There are a couple of dragons in the Kingsway shopping centre.  By the cafe, appropriately enough is Soup-A-Dragon by Thomas Price.

And on the way in is the Interactive LED Dragon in Kingsway Centre by Neal Evans.

There are a lot of Mini Dragons painted by schools (about 100 apparently) – don’t worry, I’m not going to subject you to all of them!  Unless you beg me to…. This one is in Wilkinsons in the Kingsway Centre.

This one is in the main shopping street, Commercial Street, down by the Westgate.  It is called Grymuso and Newport Womens Aid painted it.

This one is I’r Nefoedd by Gavin Rees Jones and it is just outside Newport market hall in High Street.

Continuing up High Street towards the railway station is Super City Dragon by Lucy Baker.  I like how it has been surrounded by traffic cones!

The dragon outside the railway station is Cenhinen by Julie Page.  I was getting tired by the time I took this so I didn’t cross the road to get a close up!

This dragon is Day of the X-Rated by Dominic Williams and it is in the subway area between the castle and the rest of the town.  The mural behind it is commemorating the local coal industry.

This one was painted by my friend Alison Ludlow and is called Masquerade.  It is just by the castle.

Continuing along by the river, the next dragon is called Draig Phoenix Guilin by Marion Webber.  It is just by the fairly new footbridge across the river Usk.

This one is called Rodney and the artist is Gerard Whyman.  I met Gerard when he knocked on our door and asked if he could take a photo of our house to paint it for some former residents, friends of his!  He gave me a print , which I’m very fond of.  His dragon stands in Rodney Parade, home of the local rugby club, Gwent Dragons.  Very appropriate!

And lastly for today’s little tour, is the dragon by the bus station – if you look carefully, you can see the tourist bus in the background.

He is called Deano and the artist is Rhys Webber.

These two are up on the top of Ridgeway, where I often walk.  What a glorious view they have!  The one in front is called Goldie Lookin’ Dragon by Caroline Smith – there is a pop group from Newport called Goldie Lookin’ Chain….  The one behind is Newport’s Great Outdoors by Ella Edwards.  Here’s a better photo of it:

Sadly, this one had gone in for repairs between one walk at 7.30pm on Wednesday and about the same time yesterday.  So many of them are falling prey to the mindless vandalism that they are considering putting them all inside safe and sound.  Such a pity:(

There are three dragons in the Riverfront Arts Centre.  This one is Elvis!  Can you see the resemblance?!  The artist is Brian D Hanlon.

This one is City Scaler by Lauren Fowler.

And this one is right by it – it is called Cyn Ac Ar Ol by Tim Hobbis, and I’m sorry but my Welsh isn’t up to telling you what that is about

Here they both are standing together.

Tell me if you get fed up with dragons and I’ll revert to my usual reeds, sketchbooks and ramblings…

Today’s dragons are in John Frost Square, a rather unattractive 1960s square where the library and museum are.  John Frost was a Chartist hero.

This dragon is called Pit Dragon Dai and is a miner to celebrate the coal mining history of the Welsh Valleys.  The artists are Beth Downing and Valerie Harding.

This one is called The City and the artist is Amelia Thomas.   Not sure if you’ll be able to see it properly on this photo but it has a funky cityscape painted on it.

The Council also installed these spherical fountains in the square.  I do like the reflections you get!

This year, the Ryder Cup is happening in Newport, the city in Wales where I live.

On the announcement of its coming, Newport Council desperately tried to improve the image of the city, and planned ambitious shopping centres and other developments to entice visitors into the town and away from the more appealing neighbouring cities of Bristol and Cardiff.  Residents suffered the upheaval of roadworks and building sites for months, nay, years; and just as it looked its ugliest, along came the recession and the mall developers went bust. 

To brighten up the place, over the last few months lots of decorations, flags and other colourful stuff has been appearing.  As well as this, lots of little Superdragons, painted by local artists and schoolchildren, are forming a trail around the town.  They are only here till 9 October and there are about 100 of them so I’ve decided to try and photograph them all over the next few months and post photos of them here.  Quite a lot are in the town centre so they will be easy to reach but several are on the outskirts too.

This one is called the Steel Wave Carousel (because it has a design of the red steel wave sculpture by the riverside) and is by Danielle Mayer.  It is standing outside the Civic Centre, just down the road from my house.

This is the wave – it was built to celebrate the steel industry which dominated Newport earlier this century.

This one is Scrum the Superdragon painted by Tim Harries.  It is in the main shopping street.

And this is the Wood Dragon, by Chris Wood. It is in the entrance to the library and museum.

According to the local council website, after the 10 week superdragons trail, many of the SuperDragons will be auctioned on October 27, with proceeds going to charities Tenovus, the chosen charity of Newport’s Mayor Cllr Bill Langsford and the Born Free Foundation. There’s a website about them and also a Facebook page where you can keep track of which have been, sadly, vandalised and removed temporarily for intensive care…

I like the new occupants of the city, even if they are only going to be around for a few months; they are a talking point and whenever I see them, there seem to be groups of people chatting about them, examining them and taking photos.   And the projects are encouraging local artists, local businesses.  Maybe that is the way forward for Newport; to build up local individual shops rather than trying desperately to attract big chain stores that you can see all over the country.  I for one would welcome that.

And if you really want to see what the city where I live is like, do watch this video – it’s a hoot!  And it’s going viral!  Every time I go on Facebook it seems to be there on people’s profiles and has even been picked up by the national press… Here is an article in the Daily Telegraph online