Moseley artists who have turned pigeons into art

Jan 26 2011 by Lorne Jackson, Sunday Mercury

MOST of the great works of art are securely bolted away in galleries.

Every night the Mona Lisa is locked in the Louvre. Then when daylight comes, she’s surrounded by her grim-faced suitors – security men who ensure that Da Vinci’s priceless painting doesn’t saunter off in the wrong hands.

No cat burglar will ever find those guards catnapping.

Alexandra Lockett and Ian England are artists, but they have a much more relaxed policy when it comes to security.

Every week a transport van arrives to collect Lockett and England’s precious work, then it is driven to some far-flung town or city.

Where the art is spilled out of baskets – tossed to the winds.

Luckily Lockett and England’s art is super-smart and savvy, and invariably makes its way home – at a ripping rate.

That’s because the Moseley-based artists don’t produce paintings or sculptures. They work in the medium of pigeon.

While most artists hide away in a garret to produce their works of staggering genius, Alex and Ian have a loft – a pigeon loft.

They are the proud owners of 20 pigeons, and also are members of Aston and District Pigeon Flying Club.

There are many pigeon owners in Birmingham, though Alex and Ian are the only ones who view what they do as art, not a hobby.

They call their work Project Pigeon – but is it really that creative?

“Art is about making people think about something or look at it in another way,” says Alex. “And that’s what we are about. This project makes people think of pigeons not as horrible, diseased rats with wings, but as creatures that can actually do something.”

So how do the couple – whose pigeon loft is under a viaduct in Milk Street, Digbeth – make a bundle of feathers with a pulse into art?

Well, they race their pigeons, just like any other pigeon fancier would.