ASPIRING artists living on a Finchley Road housing estate have been handed a golden opportunity – the chance to exhibit their work in Camden Town Hall

Katie Davies

ASPIRING artists living on a Finchley Road housing estate have been handed a golden opportunity - the chance to exhibit their work in Camden Town Hall.

Youngsters on the Lithos Road Estate have teamed up to create a community tree, which was made using plaster casts of their hands.

The mural was put together in the summer with the help of arts group Face2Face, which wanted to foster creative talent and steer youngsters away from bad habits at an early age. It is on display for all to see at the town hall in Judd Street, King's Cross.

"It is a wonderful, huge piece of art," said council leader Keith Moffitt, who was key to bringing the artwork to King's Cross.

"Face2Face have done a lot of work there helping the community, particularly young people. I went down to see the piece at the end of the project last summer and the manager said she wanted it to be seen by a wider audience, so I mentioned we could host it at the town hall."

He added: "It is nice to celebrate the good things which are happening in the community, as sadly we only usually hear of the bad."

As well as the tree, a series of casts of local faces have been put up in the Judd Street building and a film documenting the summer project is also being screened.

A final piece will put together all the different elements and will be exhibited in the redeveloped park area of the housing estate.

Deborah Newman, project manager for Face2Face, said: "The Lithos Road Estate has got a bad name locally.

"Myself and the other manager of Face2Face are long-term residents. We wanted the community to have a role in the regeneration, to play a part in it.

"We did projects with creative writing as well, taking our inspiration from the names of the housing blocks which are all tree names. This sample is a 12ft by 6ft piece made up of casts of all the hands of the 120 people who took part."

Face2Face is run by professional artists and has organised projects in the area for two years. For more information go to www.thisisdnadesigns.

com/mediapage.html.

The artwork is on display outside the main council chamber.

katie.davies@hamhigh.co.uk