Turnpike Art Group

The Turnpike Art Group (TAG)  are based in North London N15, within one of the most ethnically-diverse urban locations in the UK. It is this rich mix of cultures which inspired our drive to create an ongoing visual dialogue of street art interventions.

The core ethos is to provide a free art experience for residents, visitors and admirers of urban art. TAG champions heritage, cultural development, and the natural world. The artworks we place arrive through a dialogue with individuals, building owners and businesses (from small to corporate).

Over the years many art pieces have appeared in the West Green/Turnpike Lane Area, yet, as with the ephemeral nature of street art, some have come and gone; many still exist.

Created in 2012 by local residents and artists James Straffon and Veronica Bailey, TAG is as an offshoot from award-winning charity Sustran's DIY Streets Turnpike Lane/West Green project, who successfully united a London community in a dialogue of change. Within that program Art in the Community was a key element, from which residents chose a heritage-based street sign project called Doorstep Welcome, by Veronica Bailey, who studied Communication Design at Central St. Martins.

Referencing the decorative Victorian tiled residential porches within the West Green area, encaustic letter tiles of older road signs linked the street names with orange tiles similar in colour to the Turnpike Lane tube station walls. Made by the same manufacturing company - Craven Dunhill Jackfield 'the most complete Victorian tile factory in England' - eight street signs were placed at key locations, introducing a unique visual identity to the area.

Since 2012, primarily under the creative direction of artist James Straffon, TAG have overseen installation of a broad mix of carefully-curated art pieces within the urban landscape - Envision Peace, by Shepard Fairey, was one of the first to be placed in our neighbourhood within an erstwhile, and crumbling, plaster-framed advertising hoarding, above a local shop.

TAG welcomes you to visit the Turnpike Lane area and The Westbury Pub, which exhibits many artworks by James Straffon, some which are available to purchase.

During 2021, TAG hope to run some street art tours, providing first hand information and a personal guide to the urban work of The Turnpike Art Group.  If you are interested in being on a mailing list click here > info@turnpikeartgroup.co.uk. 

All artwork, text and images © Turnpike Art Group 2022.

Envision Peace | Artist - Shepard Fairey. Installed June 2012

In essence, a cornerstone (or foundation stone) is the first element set within a structure. From here the developing space around it works with direct reference to that single piece.

We feel privileged at The Turnpike Art Group to have had one of the vanguards of the urban art scene create the first, and therefore cornerstone artwork within our ongoing street project. The process began with a local shop owner granting us permission to restore, and redevelop a large, obsolescent Victorian 'billboard', located on the side of his property. This large-scale concrete framework was ideal for a challenging visual intervention. TAG then spoke with one of London's leading street art galleries - Stolen Space. They suggested a few potential candidates, then cut to the chase, asking who our ideal artist would be.  Without hesitation, we proposed American Shepard Fairey. A few weeks later, TAG were given notice that he agreed.

Stolen Space generously covered the hire cost of a cherry picker. Before installation, members of TAG proceeded to clean and repair the fissured surface of the wall space. We liaised with Fairey's assistant Dan Flores, and prepped the area for artworking with a suitable colour match to Fairey's signature red pigment.
br /> Both Fairey and Flores laboured for over eight hours, on a typically gnarly London day. They gave their time for free; placing the ENVISION PEACE installation outside of the more fashionable and acknowledged street art habitat of Brick Lane, in London's East End.

Renowned street artist Shepard Fairey commissioned for north London mural

Read The Guardian article above.

All artwork, text and images © Turnpike Art Group 2022.

Palace Gates | Artist - James Straffon/Veronica Bailey. Installed September 2013

 Of key interest to TAG is the heritage which forms the foundations for our cities, and its citizens. Wherever possible we wish to acknowledge the values of times gone by. That is the basis for our Palace Gates Project.

On 7th October 1878 the Great Eastern Railway Company opened a line which ran through Noel Park and Palace Gates (Wood Green). This line ran in competition to the Great Northern Railway line, from Kings Cross, and linked to Alexandra Palace. It was closed on 7th January 1963, after competition from the new Piccadilly Line extension to Cockfosters killed off its passenger traffic.

In 2012, as part of Sustran's DIY Streets Turnpike Lane, a memorial to the Palace Gates line was created in the form of two sections of steel track, set into the paving at Langham Place; adjoining the Mannock Road Allotments - whose plots run along the very land which once saw steam trains whistling to and fro.

Our Palace Gates Project is formed from two parts. Part I concerns colour memory - and the trackside semaphore signals which once directed the train drivers through this section of track. We have adopted the red and white STOP signal, and yellow and black DISTANT signal; recreating their form in soft, cable-tie forms, spanning the tracks. We thank Mannock Road Allotments for allowing us to transform their boundary railings.

Part II will complete this romance-of-rail intervention.

Incorporating the original detailing from the Palace Gates Station, TAG will be decorating the side wall of an electricity sub station. For this we have carefully consulted with UK Power Networks and Haringey Council, both of whom generously gave their permission for this artwork to proceed.

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All artwork, text and images © Turnpike Art Group 2022.