The Keepers
The Keepers Project: documenting threatened environments made by self-taught artists.
Interviews with the artists – or those preserving their legacy – record the history of each environment and address the financial, physical and emotional challenges of preservation.
The Keepers Project is a collaboration between artist David Clegg and photographer Thierry Bal.
FLINT GROTTO
Brighton Beach, East Sussex
Keeper: Rory McCormack
The last fisherman to keep his boat on Brighton beach and self-taught sculptor talks about fishing, being labelled an outsider artist, and the uncertain future of his grotto in the face of commercial development.
THE CEMENT MENAGERIE
Branxton Village, Northumbria
Keepers: Joseph Brattisani and Samantha Fairnington Brattisani
John Fairnington Snr built more than 300 life-size concrete animals in his garden. His grand-daughter Samantha and son-in-law Joseph shatter some myths about the garden and discuss the difficulties of maintaining it.
MARK’S FOLLY
Corris, Powys
Keeper: Richard Withers
Withers talks about his friend Mark Bourne, whose chicken-wire and concrete recreations of famous Italian buildings sit on a steep, exposed hillside in Wales. Withers discusses Bourne’s improvised construction techniques and the struggle to maintain the site.
SHOREHAM BOATYARD
Shoreham by Sea, East Sussex
Keeper: Hamish McKenzie
Shoreham’s anarchist boat restorer talks about his use of recycled materials – including a complete fire engine – and how gentrification is pushing artists out of the area.
SCULPTURE GARDEN
Histon, Cambridgeshire
Keeper: Joan Hillier
Tony Hillier’s widow and their family friend Jenny Beverley discuss his sculpture garden, ceramics and previously unknown surrealist paintings. They also share their reasons behind the decision to give away the giant metal animals Hillier created for his garden.
GERRY’S POMPEII
London
Keeper: Sasha Galitzine
Gerry Dalton transformed his ordinary housing association house into a remarkable work of art. Galitzine, a friend of Dalton’s and a co-founder of the campaign to save his work, talks about Dalton’s background and the significance of his work to the local community.
ROMAN VILLA
Birkenhead, Liverpool
Keepers: Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale of the Caravan Gallery
Ron Gittins built his Roman Villa, 'Ron’s Place', over the course of many years. Williams, Gittins’s niece, and Teasdale talk about Ron’s art and their efforts to save his work and home.
WOODEN CONSTRUCTIONS
Muswell Hill, London
Keeper: Ben Wilson ‘The Chewing Gum Man’
Ben Wilson has painted more than 10,000 colourful pictures on small pieces of chewing gum people had dropped on the street. In Muswell Hill, where he lives and which has his largest collection of chewing gum art, his pictures have become a chronicle of the neighbourhood; a celebration of the lives and varied interests of the Borough’s residents.
The enormous autobiographical wooden sculptures Wilson created for his garden are less well known and at risk due to property development.
TILED HOUSE AND FURNITURE
Hackney, London
Keeper: Mike Jingle
Ron Hitchins, Hackney’s flamenco-loving ‘Prince of Petticoat Lane’, decorated his house and furniture with thousands of hand-made ceramic tiles. Hitchins’ neighbour Russell Whitbread and Keeper, Mike Jingle talk about preserving his work and building his legacy following the sale of the house.
RENAISSANCE HOUSE
Coldean, Brighton, East Sussex
Keepers: Robert and Linda Burns
Inspired by a book bought at a car boot sale, window dresser Robert Burns covered his house in Coldean on the outskirts of Brighton with paintings that pay homage to the Italian Renaissance. In this interview Robert and his wife Linda talk about their unconventional approach to interior design and their frustration with UK press coverage.
FLINT SCULPTURES
Brighton allotment, East Sussex
Keeper: Rory McCormack
Flint-knapped mythological figures made by Rory McCormack on his Brighton allotment. See the Flint Grotto to hear and download an interview with Rory McCormack.