Drawn in by Southampton Art Gallery

11 August 2016

We’d seen Zebby Road, the zebra I really didn’t want to miss, and, although I’d originally planned a far longer zebra hunt, I really wanted to go home and see Commando. The news that his injury was far worse than he’d thought was a shock and he’d sounded very down in the dumps on the phone. Before we left the city centre though, I wanted to take a picture of the mural on the side of Solent University’s Sir James Matthews Building. 

It wouldn’t be the first photo I’d taken of this wonderful piece of artwork but you can’t really have too much of a good thing. The painting was specially commissioned in 2010, to be unveiled in time for Armistice Day and the official opening of the cultural quarter of the city. Named 360 Degree Roll, it was created by Ray Smith and shows six spitfires flying over the countryside as a tribute to those who gave their lives for the country. The first time I spotted it I thought for a moment it was a reflection of the greenery in the parks until I looked properly. Now it’s something I can’t pass without smiling.

We’d walked a little distance along the edge of the park to get a decent shot and, as we turned the corner to head back towards Guildhall Square we could see the zebra standing outside the art gallery.
“Shall we just go an have a look at him before we go home?” CJ suggested. “We’ll kick ourselves for being so close and not seeing him if he ends up getting stolen or damaged.”
He had a point. We’d missed our chance to see Ticket to Ride on our last walk even though we’d been close to him.  So we made a quick detour into the small plaza in front of the gallery.

It’s a lovely area with the trees of the park on one side and the ornamental fountain in the centre. Originally the fountain stood on the other side of the Civic Centre in the middle of a lovely rose garden. The garden occupied a large traffic island in the middle of Civic Centre Road opposite the old bus station. There were twentty two rose beds and sixteen standard trees along with the fountain, which was lit up at night.

The rose garden ceased to be when the road system was changed in the 1980’s and the bus station is now long gone too. Thankfully, the lovely, tinkling fountain was saved and moved. Since my last visit to the art gallery the new Mayflower Halls building on the corner of Havelock Road and Commercial Road, has changed the skyline. When I worked in Commercial Road this was a tatty looking car park and I liked the looks of the plans for a new building. It was a long time coming but the building finally opened in late 2014. Many people hated it. Personally I think the muted shades of grey fit in quite well as a backdrop for the greens of the park and echo the variations in colour of the Civic Centre building.

Zippy the zebra fit in quite well too in my opinion. Sponsored by Hargroves Cycles, where Commando bought the new bike he still can’t ride, it was painted by Tom Joyce. The theme is stripes, not zebra stripes but bee stripes and Zippy’s blue sky background is covered with a swarm of black and yellow bees. Somewhere amongst them is a queen bee. We spent quite some time Where’s Wally style searching and eventually found her. She’s in one of the photos I took so you can join in the game if you like.

“So, how many baby zebras are there inside?” CJ asked when we’d finally spotted the queen bee.
“Um, four,” I said taking a quick look at the Zany Zebra app on my phone.
“If it’s only four it would be silly not to go in and see them while we’re here,” he said. “At least Dad won’t think we came straight home and be all cross.”
I had a suspicion this was his plan all along and I was being duped but I figured a few minutes in the art gallery wouldn’t hurt. So, with a stop to look up at the ornately decorated arched window above the door, we went inside.

Really I should visit the art gallery more often because it’s a wonderful building filled with interesting things. It also has a tragic history. On 6 November 1940 the Arts Block suffered a direct hit by one of twelve bombs that fell on the city. It was 2.45 in the afternoon and a group of school children were having a lesson. Most had gone into the basement air raid shelter but the bomb, carrying five hundred pounds of explosives, fell through the roof and the inner floors into the basement where it exploded. All but one child was killed. Over thirty people were killed by this one bomb, fourteen of them children in the art school basement.

Today the gallery is filled with baby zebras designed by school children in the city. The first we saw was Woody, standing right at the top of the stairs. He was decorated by the children of Greenwood School and his theme is tattoos. He’s a kind of papier-mâché zebra covered with colourful photos and very glossy. I liked him a lot and spent some time looking at all the pictures on his colourful coat.

We found the other three baby zebras under the large arched window at the opposite end of the gallery. There was Hope (Matumaini), sponsored by Awbridge Primary School and designed by Bea Darby and Macey Rogers, who won a school wide competition with their theme of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. He’s painted with a seaside scene and I especially liked his stripy ears.

In the centre was Vince, the Vermont Zebra, designed by the children of Vermont School. Vince is a colourful mixture of patterns inspired by African art and the works of Escher and Kandinsky. He certainly didn’t look out of place amongst the other works of art.

Finally, there was Primary Ralph, the Reading Zebra, sponsored by Southampton Libraries and Southampton City Art Gallery. Ralph, designed by eight year olds Finley Tavendale and Alfie Futter, is decorated in stripes of blue and gold and, as you’d expect, he has a bookish theme.

So now we’d seen the baby zebras I could finally go home, or so I thought.
“Can’t we just have a quick walk round and look at the pictures before we go?” CJ asked. “It would seem rude to come in here and just look at the zebras.”
Yet again he had a point and, of course, a quick walk round turned into a long lingering look at some of our favourite pieces. Obviously photos of the paintings are not allowed, but, if you get the chance, the art gallery is well worth an hour or two of your time. There are some great paintings and even some you can buy if you happen to have the money.

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