Piecing Us Together Trail – A Unique Puzzle Trail
Piecing Us Together is an exciting mini art trail coming to Lincoln this October.
I’m very excited to announce that I have a brand new art project in the pipeline, thanks to Lincoln BIG and funds from Lincoln Creates 2022.
My artwork idea, entitled ‘Piecing Us Together’, aims to create a series of 40 miniature hand painted puzzle pieces that will form a fun and colourful trail through Lincoln City centre and the uphill area.
The pieces, measuring approximately 21cm each, will go on display in the windows of businesses throughout the city.
Each puzzle piece will feature a central character representing the business who will be displaying it.
At the end of the trail the pieces will come together to form a large piece of artwork, creating a vivid and diverse crowd scene. This artwork go on permanent display for the public to enjoy, in an indoor city location.

Building The Perfect Puzzle
My puzzle idea came about having previously designed a colourful puzzle of Lincoln City.
Lincoln City Summer Scene is my own colourful interpretation of popular areas of Lincoln. I used a little artistic licence to fit in all of the locations to create an image that worked, but it proved to be a huge success. You can take a closer look at my puzzle at my Teemill Store.
I had been toying for some time with the idea of creating a new puzzle scene that would include people, but it was still only an idea I kept floating around in my head.
Then the opportunity arose to propose an art project idea for Lincoln Creates 2022 and it got me thinking…

No Stranger to Art Trails
I wanted to create something that would enhance the city by injecting some fun and colour.
I’ve previously created artwork for a number of art trails throughout the city and so I thought it might be nice to create something on a smaller scale.
I liked the idea of displaying mini pieces of art in the windows of shops, cafes and other small businesses, for people to try and spot.
I’d been thinking about each one being a hand painting person, cut out of cardboard. Maybe I could include characters such as Steampunks and people in 1040’s dress, to link in with some of the City’s annual events.
Then when the trail comes to an end I would bring all the pieces back together and stick them on a giant board to form a crown scene.
That was when a friend reminded me of my Lincoln puzzle and my brain started to whizz!
What not create a giant hand painted jigsaw puzzle?

The Puzzle of The Giant Jigsaw
I started planning how I could hand paint a huge crowd scene on to a physical jigsaw.
If I could design an entire crowd scene and split it up in to say, 35 pieces, I could include even more characters than I’d originally envisioned.
Each puzzle piece could have a main focus character, with any characters surrounding them appearing on the connecting puzzle sections. This would prevent the main character on each piece wouldn’t be getting chopped in half!
I could even collaborate with the businesses who would like to display puzzle pieces. That way their puzzle piece main character could appear as an interpretation of their business. Maybe a café’s puzzle piece could feature a main character eating a cake, or an art shop’s carrying brushes and a canvas?

A Puzzling Puzzle
The pieces will need to be a decent size to be spotted in windows, so I started to plan how I would go about creating them.
I experimented with cutting card and foamboard, but it was proving trickier than I’d hoped. Plus I was nervous about losing a finger with my dodgy cutting skills!
Then I discovered large size puzzle pieces available online and so I got in touch with a company to see if they could create some bespoke pieces for me.
Now I had options available for wooden puzzle piece panels that would connect together to form a huge physical jigsaw. My excitement grew.
Finally I contacted a local company to see if they could create a custom frame to display the completed jigsaw as a floating image. That way when my planned trail was over it would result in permanent piece of art that people could enjoy.
I would call my idea ‘Piecing Us Together’. A fun, colourful and inclusive design to represent the people of Lincoln.
My art trail idea could become a reality. I wrote my proposal for Lincoln Creates 2022 and hit send.
Enhancing The City Through Creativity
I would like to say a huge thank you to Lincoln BIG for commissioning my art trail idea as part of Lincoln Creates 2022.
Lincoln Creates 2022 is a brilliant fund that works to enhance the city through creativity and encourages collaboration between artists and businesses creating visual art projects. It’s aim is to make Lincoln’s city centre a more vibrant place for those living or working there, along with those who visit.
I’m hoping that my Piecing Us Together puzzle trail idea will not only help to brighten the city but also lead people to areas of the city that they might not usually visit.
Lincoln businesses in the BID (Business Improvement District) area who’d like to take part in this free trail can express interest with Lincoln BIG. You now have until 31st July.
The Piecing Us Together trail aims to launch this October.
If you’re interested in following the trail Lincoln BIG will be creating a map to help indicate the approximate locations so you can try and spot the pieces.
I hope people will enjoy following the trail and that it will also help encourage interest and footfall for those businesses taking part.
If you would like to find out more about working with me to create a special commission please drop me an email. I’d love to see what I can create for you.