Dorchester graffiti wall depicting Western gun under fire from angry residents

5:00am Friday 31st January 2014 in News


By Samantha Harman, Senior Reporter

LETHAL WEAPON: Artist Peter Sheridan creating a Western scene on the bridge walls

A LETHAL weapon depicted in a ‘good graffiti’ project has been shot down by angry residents.

Councillors have received complaints since a giant gun was drawn as part of an art scheme for youngsters under a railway bridge in Dorchester.

It has been blasted as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘upsetting’ on a route that is used by schoolchildren along Damers Road. The mural, which has a ‘great western’ or ‘cowboy’ theme, was designed by county artist Peter Sheridan for the initiative to stop youngsters turning to vandalism.

Mr Sheridan attended a full meeting of Dorchester Town Council to explain the reasons he chose the gun.

He apologised and said he can fashion the gun into a banana or a fistful of railway tickets, if councillors wish. “I did think about the gun a lot and I thought it would be okay with the theme,” he said.

On the ‘good graffiti’ Facebook page he has explained the theme was a ‘play on words’, inspired by the movie True Grit as some is drawn in ‘reverse graffiti’– not with paint but using dirt already on the wall.

He said he thought about replacing the gun with fingers in the shape of a gun but ‘if you water down an idea it just becomes weak.’ To a complainant on the page, he added: “The main point is we will have to expect random images and messages for an open project of this nature.

“We have to expect things we don’t like or agree with. However, I have taken on your view and the good thing is, it’s only a painting.’ Although it was accepted that generally residents think it is a ‘brilliant’ piece of artwork, they were not happy about the ‘enormous gun.’ Coun Susie Hosford said: “The concern is that there is this enormous gun which is quite upsetting. It’s not appropriate to have such a weapon on a school route.”

Members of the newly-formed Dorchester Youth Council gave feedback which said it was ‘not the type of message we want to portray.’ Councillors will now have a think about what they’d like to see in the gun’s place and Mr Sheridan, who has given his time freely to the project, will make the changes.

But councillors agreed not to be ‘prescriptive’ because this would defeat the aim of the project.

  • DISTRICT councillor Gillian Summers, spearheading the project, said she believes the town council has only received one complaint.

She said hundreds of positive comments have been received about the Damers Road free wall and two other walls in Bridport and Sherborne.

She said National Rail had been ‘very pleased’ with the initiative and want to roll it out to other areas.

She said it ‘saves the town council money’ because there is a free space for expression rather than vandalising other areas.

The graffiti competition will finish in April. Updates on Twitter by following @goodgraffitiWD and at facebook.com/goodgraffiti

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Comments (13)

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1:12pm Fri 31 Jan 14

JamesYoung

says…

David_divenghy2 wrote:

Tinker2 wrote:

K9 wrote:
Gun crime is hardly rife in Dorchester. Leave it be. Kids are running around in the summer with these water-cannon toys and councillors aren’t concerned. Why should they be, kids have play-guns since guns were invented. Before they had play-swords. Teenagers can be fed it as a discussion point in a lesson to look at the downsides of an arms race. They’re all more intelligent than the the council credits.

Yes, we should ban any reference to wars and erase the subject from our school history books. Ban any mention of the wild west and remove any western movies from our libraries. Curb all art and insist that anyone can only depict ‘nice’ images, like flowers and trees. Get a grip critics!
The wall art in Dorch is great and art is often daring and challenging. Better to be out there than ‘elf amp; safety niceness out of existence?

Nobody mentioned quot;elf and safety”. I am talking about getting these kids to do something intelligent, practical and useful to benefit themselves and society. Do you think this nonsense will put food on their tables when they get older, pay their bills, rents or mortgages?

If any of them have an actual professional chance at Art then by all means show them how to run a business, get in a studio and galleries and make it pay (not using tax payers money to prop it up like most Art nonsense) I suspect some are intelligent enough and their time would surely be better spent on something more educational and productive that will benefit them and society more than a mess on the towns walls?

Yup. Personally, i don’t consider this art and its interesting that, while these murals have been toned down and don’t leap out, opposite is a large multicolour tag that has no doubt been painted by a local vandal. There has never been a problem with graffiti on that bridge; it will be interesting to see what happens now.

[quote][p][bold]David_divenghy2[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]Tinker2[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]K9[/bold] wrote:
Gun crime is hardly rife in Dorchester. Leave it be. Kids are running around in the summer with these water-cannon toys and councillors aren’t concerned. Why should they be, kids have play-guns since guns were invented. Before they had play-swords. Teenagers can be fed it as a discussion point in a lesson to look at the downsides of an arms race. They’re all more intelligent than the the council credits.[/p][/quote]Yes, we should ban any reference to wars and erase the subject from our school history books. Ban any mention of the wild west and remove any western movies from our libraries. Curb all art and insist that anyone can only depict ‘nice’ images, like flowers and trees. Get a grip critics!
The wall art in Dorch is great and art is often daring and challenging. Better to be out there than ‘elf safety niceness out of existence?[/p][/quote]Nobody mentioned “elf and safety”. I am talking about getting these kids to do something intelligent, practical and useful to benefit themselves and society. Do you think this nonsense will put food on their tables when they get older, pay their bills, rents or mortgages?

If any of them have an actual professional chance at Art then by all means show them how to run a business, get in a studio and galleries and make it pay (not using tax payers money to prop it up like most Art nonsense) I suspect some are intelligent enough and their time would surely be better spent on something more educational and productive that will benefit them and society more than a mess on the towns walls?[/p][/quote]Yup. Personally, i don’t consider this art and its interesting that, while these murals have been toned down and don’t leap out, opposite is a large multicolour tag that has no doubt been painted by a local vandal. There has never been a problem with graffiti on that bridge; it will be interesting to see what happens now.
JamesYoung

  • Score: 4
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1:12pm Fri 31 Jan 14

JamesYoung

says…

David_divenghy2 wrote:

Tinker2 wrote:

K9 wrote:
Gun crime is hardly rife in Dorchester. Leave it be. Kids are running around in the summer with these water-cannon toys and councillors aren’t concerned. Why should they be, kids have play-guns since guns were invented. Before they had play-swords. Teenagers can be fed it as a discussion point in a lesson to look at the downsides of an arms race. They’re all more intelligent than the the council credits.

Yes, we should ban any reference to wars and erase the subject from our school history books. Ban any mention of the wild west and remove any western movies from our libraries. Curb all art and insist that anyone can only depict ‘nice’ images, like flowers and trees. Get a grip critics!
The wall art in Dorch is great and art is often daring and challenging. Better to be out there than ‘elf amp; safety niceness out of existence?

Nobody mentioned quot;elf and safety”. I am talking about getting these kids to do something intelligent, practical and useful to benefit themselves and society. Do you think this nonsense will put food on their tables when they get older, pay their bills, rents or mortgages?

If any of them have an actual professional chance at Art then by all means show them how to run a business, get in a studio and galleries and make it pay (not using tax payers money to prop it up like most Art nonsense) I suspect some are intelligent enough and their time would surely be better spent on something more educational and productive that will benefit them and society more than a mess on the towns walls?

Yup. Personally, i don’t consider this art and its interesting that, while these murals have been toned down and don’t leap out, opposite is a large multicolour tag that has no doubt been painted by a local vandal. There has never been a problem with graffiti on that bridge; it will be interesting to see what happens now.

[quote][p][bold]David_divenghy2[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]Tinker2[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]K9[/bold] wrote:
Gun crime is hardly rife in Dorchester. Leave it be. Kids are running around in the summer with these water-cannon toys and councillors aren’t concerned. Why should they be, kids have play-guns since guns were invented. Before they had play-swords. Teenagers can be fed it as a discussion point in a lesson to look at the downsides of an arms race. They’re all more intelligent than the the council credits.[/p][/quote]Yes, we should ban any reference to wars and erase the subject from our school history books. Ban any mention of the wild west and remove any western movies from our libraries. Curb all art and insist that anyone can only depict ‘nice’ images, like flowers and trees. Get a grip critics!
The wall art in Dorch is great and art is often daring and challenging. Better to be out there than ‘elf safety niceness out of existence?[/p][/quote]Nobody mentioned “elf and safety”. I am talking about getting these kids to do something intelligent, practical and useful to benefit themselves and society. Do you think this nonsense will put food on their tables when they get older, pay their bills, rents or mortgages?

If any of them have an actual professional chance at Art then by all means show them how to run a business, get in a studio and galleries and make it pay (not using tax payers money to prop it up like most Art nonsense) I suspect some are intelligent enough and their time would surely be better spent on something more educational and productive that will benefit them and society more than a mess on the towns walls?[/p][/quote]Yup. Personally, i don’t consider this art and its interesting that, while these murals have been toned down and don’t leap out, opposite is a large multicolour tag that has no doubt been painted by a local vandal. There has never been a problem with graffiti on that bridge; it will be interesting to see what happens now.
JamesYoung

  • Score: -4
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