Great Yarmouth textile artist inspired by the seaside icons of her home town

Alison Cottrell and her dress inspired by Great Yarmouth's seaside nostalgia and its historic landmarks. Picture: James Bass (Image: Archant Norfolk © 2015)

But now, a textiles student from Great Yarmouth has taken inspiration from her home town for a new design project.

Alison Cottrell, from Beatty Road, has created textile designs based on drawings of icons such as Britannia Pier, Joyland amusement park and their famous snails, the Hippodrome and the old Winter Gardens.

The 32-year-old said: 'You don't notice things you see everyday until you really begin to look. Great Yarmouth is covered with colours and lovely historic buildings, it's great to have this inspiration on your doorstep.'

As well as using her own drawings Mrs Cottrell took to facebook to track down historic photos of the area to inform her work.

The textiles degree student received numerous replies, most memorably one from the great-great-grandson of William Adams - a Gorleston man famed for saving over 140 people from drowning in the town in the early 1900s.

Mrs Cottrell said: 'He was an inspirational man and his portrait features in my work.'

The intuitive and quirky designs have been made into clothing for this project and are currently being assessed at Norwich University of the Arts where Mrs Cottrell is in her second year.

She said: 'My opinion of my home town has changed, some of the buildings are absolutely beautiful.

'I have really great memories of lots of these places, I used to go roller skating at the Winter Gardens every Saturday night.'

Over the summer Mrs Cottrell plans to develop her drawing by continuing to work with local oil painter and artist Rachel Thomas.

To find out more about Mrs Cottrell's work visit her blog at alisoncottrelltextiles.tumblr.com

Are you organising a project based on your home town? Email kate.royall@archant.co.uk