Let’s Talk Market
by Pickle Illustration
Text by Alan Barrett
Stoke Town HSHAZ Wow Commission 2, Located at Stoke Library (market side elevation), South Wolfe Street, Stoke, ST4 4SZ,
Let’s Talk Market—by Pickle Illustration, featuring Haikus by Alan Barrett
Artists’ Liv and Lauren from Pickle Illustration developed two window designs for the library windows. The ideas for each design came from workshops and interviews held at Stoke Library and inside the market back in November 2022.
What’s included in the design and why:
“A lot of the buildings in Stoke are made from a warm red brick, when I’ve come back from other areas, when I get off the train and I see the colour of the bricks I feel like I’m home now, and because it’s a warm colour I think it says a lot about my memories of the market and the town as a warm and sociable place”
The green and red colour scheme was chosen to respond to the distinctive colours of the Stoke-Upon-Trent (and North Staffordshire more widely) including some of the green tiling in the immediate area and the warm red bricks of Stoke, which are featured on one of the panels.
Ceramics and an ongoing creative energy and skill characterising the town was a key theme that came out of the workshops, so we wanted to make sure this was included in the panels.
As well as the ceramic heritage participants noted how much creativity and arts there is “pulsing under the surface” of the town, with people sharing the range of arts and crafts activities they take part in in different venues in the town including the library, local faith spaces and at arts organisations like B arts. To reflect this the imagery includes some of the activities people shared, (photography, drawing etc). The woman knitting is based (loosely) on a Stoke resident who has recently reconnected to her creativity (she’d formally been a paintress) through a knitting group in Stoke, as well as linking to the wool and knitted goods stall on the market.
The Red Lion stood in the south-eastern corner of St Peter's churchyard in Stoke. It was demolished in the early 1970's to make way for the A500. The facade was taken down brick by brick and rebuilt in the Tramway museum at Crich in Derbyshire
The panel also celebrates stories of Stoke’s night life. With fond memories of ‘The red lion’ and in particular the music events that were held there in the 60s. The lion can be found at the top of one of the panels drinking a pint and watching over the town as it used to!
The panels also include people’s memories of rising the market…weekly visits to the butchers with mum and the amazement at the sausage strings and spending pocket money on sweets.
The artwork includes some of the stalls you can find inside Stoke Market today, including Moroccan Food Stoke, cafes and the hairdressers.
The other panel focusses on Stoke Library. People shared that they love the library as a place they can get support using a computer or printing documents, have a warm drink and a warm welcome and enjoy a book, take part in family and early years activities— somewhere they can find out what’s going on locally and somewhere they can get to easily.
We also wanted to include a reference to the red stripes of Stoke City Football Club as so many people spoke about excitement around match days in town-so we’ve added the stripes to one of the objects featured.
The artworks also include Haikus from Poet Alan Barrett, we only had space for a couple but we loved them all so much we have included them all below!
Haikus for Stoke Market by Alan Barrett
Saturday market
4-deep queues on Browns Butchers
well worth the wait, though.
Well worn, wooden floor,
solid, welcoming; echoes
from the past bring smiles
Pet stores, cheese counters
witty grocery banter,
touched all the senses.
Where to spend today,
3 shillings pocket money
went such a long way
Called in the sweet stall
on the way to the footy
4 bags for a pound!
Wordless amazement
is the best response; seeing
beauty made from mud
A unique place, this
market with a balcony,
Victorian charm
Indoor and outdoor,
in all seasons of the year
serving the potters
Eclectic wares sold
with a friendly "Ow at, duck?"
making shoppers smile
Get thee chaise n eggs
apulls, pittles, n oatkeeks
owe under wun roof
Way sell eet owe eer
n if way anner gorreet,
t'inner woth avin
Not just pottery,
but canals, engineering,
mining, even flight!
Lodge, Minton, Bilton,
Spode, Brindley, Portmerion,
Copeland, Campbell, Goss
Potbanks, mines, brickworks,
wares transported down canals
designed by Brindley
Campbell Road and Bilton Street,
South Wolfe Street, Empire Passage,
the past, remembered.
Have you spotted the other 3 WOW commissions around the town?
Find out more about all 4 WOW commissions by visiting the main project page by clicking the button below:
Each commission was curated by B arts and funded by Historic England and Stoke-On-Trent City Council as part of the Stoke Town High Stoke Heritage Action Zone Programme (the artworks were designed and installed between November 2022 and March 2024)
