Faces of Farsley is thanking village's lockdown heroes with miniature portraits

Happy, smiling faces, some coloured in by little hands in rough lines, others mini-masterpieces by professional artists.

All with one thing in common, they show the face of someone from the village that deserves to be a celebrated - like community midwife Trish who keeps her patients calm and healthy, teacher Mrs Ashley-Cooper, who is recording songs for her class to dance to at home, or postman Richard who makes his deliveries with a smile on his face.

The stickers have been placed around the village, on lampposts, benches, post boxes and park railings by graphic designer and co-owner of Grumpy's Bar and Wood Fired Pizza, Alex Rogerson.

She created the Faces of Farsley community art project after commissioning artists to create three murals around the village.

The murals, by Leah Haywood, Amy Hodkin and Nicolas Dixon, are all themed around the lockdown in some way, either thanking essential workers, the NHS or celebrating community.

She was inundated by people who wanted to take part, and was inspired by the portraits by one in particular, Jen Coco Green, to continue creating more art.

Miss Rogerson, who runs Grumpy’s with her sister Cassie, said: “Closing the business, even though it was just for the first two weelks, was heart-breaking, and I noticed how sad the high street was looking - with most of the businesses closed and formal-looking posters in the window about coronavirus.

“We wanted to give something back to our community, as we’ve always had such brilliant support in the three years we’ve been open, so commissioned the murals to brighten up empty shop windows.

“We had so many artists respond to a call-out on Facebook, when I saw Jen’s work I thought it would be a great way to thank key workers, by drawing their portraits. It soon evolved into creating the stickers, and asking people to nominate those they wished to thank, and put themselves forward as artists.”

Faces of Farsley has been supported by Leeds Printing Company, which produced the stickers, of which 42 have already been printed. They are also shared on the Faces of Farsley Instagram page, which is where people can nominate a person for a portrait.

With Grumpy’s now open for collection of orders, Miss Rogerson is “up until 2am” pairing nominees with artists and designing the stickers, but hopes to soon have another 42 ready to print - and has plans to develop the project post-coronavirus.

The project has been such a success she’s had groups in Pudsey and Chapel Allerton get in touch about starting similar projects, and she’s even been approached by artists in Lincoln.

“We’ve also launched a trail on our Instagram page that encourages families to spot the stickers on their daily walks, using emoji clues,” Miss Rogerson said. “People seem to be really enjoying it and we’ve had lots of people tag us in their photos when they’ve spotted the stickers.

“Farsley has great community spirit and I think that’s why they have really taken off. Everybody has been so supportive.

“People have asked to buy poster prints of the murals, and copies of the stickers, so we’re looking at how we can do that to fund a community pot of money to create future art projects.”