Writer chills out with public words of wisdom

Jun 22 2009 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

WHAT is a man with a fridge doing at Gateshead Central Library?

Eliciting cool ideas from the reading public, that’s what.

Ira Lightman is a writer and artist who can be guaranteed to come up with a good idea – even if it does mean asking others for a bit of help.

On this occasion he is gathering pieces of text with which to decorate the windows of the library, which is undergoing £2.5m-worth of improvements.

People are invited to come up with suitable lines – of poetry, description, whatever – and display them on the fridge with magnetic letters.

Having gathered the thoughts of Gateshead library users, Ira will choose his favourites to be acid-etched into the new windows and glass panels. A current favourite is the description of the library as an “Information Eden”.

Ira has even invented a new font so the words will be truly unique.

“I’ve always wanted to do it,” he says. “It is basically a combination of a straight line and a crescent moon.”

Ira, who lives in Rowlands Gill, has worked on several other text-based projects around the region.

His Spennymoor Letters, which saw poems displayed on gable ends in the County Durham town, earned him a Journal Culture Award in 2006.

He was also involved in a text-based art project in Prudhoe, Northumberland.

Gateshead Central Library, having received a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, is getting a new children’s section, café, gallery and adult learning and community spaces. Work is due to be completed next year. Ira and his fridge will be in the library from today until Friday, 3.30pm to 5pm.