Pickle Illustration, the highly skilled Birmingham-based illustrators, were given the tricky task of transforming the mundane into the inspirational, renovating six utility boxes across Shirley High Street into colourful creative beacons across the town.

Using Public Art to Lift Spirits

Public art can be a great way of engaging the public with their surroundings, having the potential to lift spirits whilst encouraging positive mental well-being. Converting very dull and often dreary-looking utility boxes in such a public space was the perfect way to offer respite from the strains of everyday life.

Each box was inspired by the wildflower scene that surrounds the local area, from the iconic local installation “Poppy Island”, to Shirley Park which boasts a large entryway embellished with daisies. There is also a minibeast, chosen by the local public, charmingly hiding within each painting.

Our job? To capture the transformation on film.

Capturing the Transformation

We spent two half-days following the artists illustrating the mini art trail, recording the process of the boxes being painted, as well as capturing them once completed. Being painted openly in public gave us the perfect opportunity to capture public engagement, generating real-time praise and admiration from local business owners and passers-by alike! 

It was a visually rich project (which makes our job so much easier!), capturing the vibrant brushstrokes across the various public spaces, interjected with informative talking-head interviews from both Liv and Lauren from Pickle. The illustrators discussed all aspects of the project, from their inspiration for the designs, to the execution, and feedback received for the final pieces.

As it was predominantly an outdoor shoot, we had to ensure that we were prepared for all eventualities, including rain and bright light, so we packed covers and lens hoods galore to accommodate. Thankfully, the weather played ball on both occasions and allowed us to do our job without disruption!

The Final Result

Pickle were keen to have a range of content to be able to put onto their website, as well as social media channels.

We had a vast collection of videos to go through and a smaller number of images, colour coding the videos in Premiere Pro to make it easier to locate certain sections and make the overall editing process more efficient.

For Loop, we thoroughly enjoyed working alongside Pickle Illustration for this project. Having a structured vision for the final video, the artists offered their input, yet allowed us to take creative free reign to capture and portray this project, which we did so with eagerness!

“We were so happy we made the decision to get the project documented by Lalita at Loop 454. The documentation has been so incredibly useful when sharing the project on social media, as well as being picked up by local news. We would recommend Loop454 for anyone wanting visually striking video/photography whilst also working with an extremely lovely team!”

— Lauren and Liv, Pickle Illustration