Crossrail aims to improve the image of the industry and add to the cultural life of London with the appointment of its first artist in residence.
Julie Leonard, who started this week, will create a pictorial diary of Crossrail, capturing many of the personalities and construction scenes across Europe’s largest infrastructure project.
Leonard, a London-based painter, printmaker and “digital artist”, will use an app on her smart phone to create digital and animated drawings and has already been out and about on sites this week.
Terry Morgan, Crossrail chairman, said: “We want Crossrail to enhance London’s reputation as one of the world’s great cultural and artistic capitals. We have embedded culture into the heart of Crossrail’s design and delivery because it is crucial to nurture the best creative minds, as well as the best commercial ones.
“Julie’s art will help highlight for the public the huge level of activity underway behind Crossrail’s hoardings.”
Leonard said: “I look forward to creating a body of work that will form a unique archive and visual legacy of places that people rarely see. My digital pieces will be an accessible, versatile and instant way to capture the challenges of building Crossrail.
“I hope the art will bring together the people working on Crossrail from the bottom up and those who will eventually use it. I see it as an opportunity to engage in the creative process, transfer my excitement about Crossrail and get young people working with me and learning about the project first hand.”
The appointment of an artist in residence is part of efforts to embed culture within Crossrail, which stretches from Maidenhead in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, via central London, which will add 10% to London’s rail network when it opens in 2018.
Separate to its artist in residence appointment, Crossrail is implementing a permanent exhibition of large-scale artworks across seven London Crossrail stations, designed in collaboration with London’s leading art galleries. It is an integral part of Crossrail’s efforts to design and build new high-quality stations and to significantly improve areas above and around the new stations.
