Edward Badham’s famous painting of Hastings, Corner House and the Blue Saloon will be the basis for a digital artwork in a project being backed by Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.

It’s hoped local people will get involved in creating the ‘digital quilt’ as part of #HastingsDigitalMuseum.  

The museum is working with artists, Kate Hulme and Carissa Tanton, to create the piece of community digital art based on the picture that was painted sometime between 1922 and 1935. The piece was chosen because it’s felt that it represents everyday life and community – two things which the artists feel are particularly precious at the moment. 

The painting is being divided into squares, a bit like a jigsaw or patchwork quilt and people are being asked to take a single square and recreate it however they like. That could be a square of knitting, embroidery, oil painting, colouring in, crochet or watercolour. But equally, Kate and Carisa say it could be something more unusual like an iced cake, a collage of fabric or an arrangement of objects in your home.  

“We welcome contributions from all ages and abilities; this will add to the beauty of the finished piece,” a spokesman for the museum says.  

Council Leader Kim Forward, says: “People in our town have come together during this crisis and this sense of community has been very important. This is an opportunity for people to join in and create something beautiful which will come to symbolise how we are currently working every day to cope. 

“I look forward to seeing our community’s response when the unique pieces are joined to create something beautiful and unexpected in a Digital Quilt.” 

Kate added: “The idea for the digital quilt came to me when I was creating cross stitch grids with my six-year-old son to send to his friends during lock down. It occurred to me how great it would be to get a lot of people to contribute to a bigger piece of art in whatever way they chose, and to whatever skill level they had.

“The more I thought about it the more it seemed to represent a sense of community, where our unique strengths and weaknesses come together to create something bigger than we are.” 

Cariss says: “I loved Kate’s idea for creating a quilt from small squares and cannot wait to stitch it all back together. For me the wonderful thing about drawing is it brings a new level of paying attention as one really has to look closely at what’s in front of you.” 

To get involed email kate@katehulme.co.uk. You have until Friday May 29th to complete your square. The final artwork will be published on Wednesday June 3rd. 

You can view the digital exhibitions at: https://www.artsteps.com/profile/5eaf06134ce5136fb05881e2