Rockaway Park — joanna zenghelis

At the weekend I visited Rockaway Park, located in a quarry in Somerset, where a collection of talented artists and creatives who live and work on the site, make and teach and realise their vision and ideas in the shared belief that collaboration and collectivism produces amazing art. Previously the site had been a scrap metal yard for old caravans, but Mark Wilson, the founder of the project, and an artist and musician himself, got fed up with the daily grime and grease of old vans, and turned his resourcefulness and talent to developing it into what it is today - a constantly evolving live hard rock/scrap metal sort of sculpture park.

I didn’t know what to expect driving up to this fantastical world of stretched imagination let loose by a freedom of artistic expression. Anything and everything seems to coexist in this little land of magic - as long as it’s eco-friendly and socially conscientious and crazy: “Would those who say it can’t be done, please stand clear of those doing it” is the motto. All around are weird and wonderful objects and stalls and structures shouting their presence or in the process of being born: a baby pink milk float housing a hand printing press using vintage woodblock poster letters; a punk barber’s called God Shave the Queen (mad haircuts perfect for festivals – this being a stone’s throw from Glastonbury); a shed full of metal structures and tools and scraps about to come to life, bursting with surreal potential; pink cars; rockets; missiles; windmills; a giant woven willow wasp; little metal creatures and a punk rock ukelele workshop which was about to commence as we were finishing our delicious vegan Sunday nut roast.

As a screenprinter I was really chuffed to come across the purpose built (by the resident builder using recycled materials) screenprinting studio, Carry on Screening just as Simon, who has moved here from London, was in the process of ‘baking’ t-shirts. Like most of the workshops and studios in the quarry, it’s powered by solar panels attached to the roof – and where necessary other green energy, and uses only the most ethically and sustainably sourced materials. The supplier of the tees No Sweat UK provide garments made in a worker owned factory in Bangladesh called Oporajeo by survivors of the Rana Plaza disaster, an example to the world about how the garment industry should work.

There’s always so much to discover with the constant addition of new projects and artists turning Rockaway Park into an endless quarry of creativity and imagination that is a feast for the eyes and inspiration for the soul.

And it’s a brilliant day out.