Chester city centre will see ‘Spring Bloom’ during February and March as seven artists bring their interpretations of Cheshire nature into the city centre for a curated art trail.

The seven installations are set to launch on 19 February 2022 and will run through early spring until the end of March.

The project aims to embrace and explore the natural world that surrounds us through a programme of art, activities, performance, storytelling and large-scale sculptural installations. The seven

Great British Life: The design sketch for the Hanami Cherry Blossom Bus instalationThe design sketch for the Hanami Cherry Blossom Bus instalation (Image: Wild Rumpus)

HONEYCOMB
Located at Chester’s famous Cross, the Crossroads Honeycomb reflects the beautiful simplicity of nature’s patterns. Based on honeycomb shapes, the work is found draping across some of the city’s famous architecture and filling in the spaces between. Expanding from a central point, it will evoke the bustle of the hive at the city’s most popular meeting landmark. Artist: Bex Knight.

MURMURATION
Murmuration reflects the famed murmurations of starlings, captured on the banks of the River Dee. Here, near the Victorian bandstand, the images of birds will float amongst the trees so that spectators can sit on a bench and watch the mesmerising performances. Artist: Nikki Charlesworth.

SHOP FRONT. NIGHT CAMERA. ANIMAL.
This digital video installation sees Cheshire’s nocturnal wildlife scurry, wander, rummage and gnaw through Chester’s shopfronts. A collaboration with Cheshire Wildlife Trust, the work offers glimpses of foxes, badgers, mice, hedgehogs, deer and beavers. Their glowing eyes look out from shop windows, bringing us face to face with a secret, natural world. Artist: Jack Brown.

SPRING ON STAGE
Spring on Stage doubles as a performance space in the Cathedral Gardens, where the stage itself is also a piece of art inspired by the vivid colours and patterns of spring insects. Artists: Pickle Illustration.

ARIZICAL
Set within historic Grosvenor Park, The Arizical is a contemplation space inspired by organic networks, such as those of fungi mycelium, plant roots and synapses. These apparently chaotic and mysterious networks are really efficient pathways that here form a labyrinth visitors can journey through. Artist: Jessica Rost.

HANAMI CHERRY BLOSSOM BUS
On the Hanami Cherry Blossom Bus, blossoms have been co-created with Cheshire communities from recycled materials, yarn and alpaca wool. Celebrating the arrival of spring, with the hope that the year ahead will allow gathering and connection, each cherry blossom has been dedicated as a tribute to unpaid carers in Cheshire. The project was co-devised with Andrea Janowski and the Carers Art Group. Artists: One Life Artists.

REDESIGNED BY NATURE
Using augmented reality, this new app re-wilds the iconic Eastgate Clock on mobile phones so that participants can watch plants and animals take back the landmark around them, transforming it into a rural idyll. Meanwhile, the gentle sights and sounds of nature counteract the din of the city. This poetic introduction to Chester Designed by Nature is voiced by Julie Hesmondhalgh. Artist: Jack Hardiker.

A series of free events for all the family will be taking place at the Nest and across the city as part of the Spring Blooms programme.

For more details, go to www.visitchester.com/springblooms or @visitchesterandcheshire on social channels.

READ MORE: Beautiful photographs of blossom in Cheshire