Artists of all persuasions joined forces this weekend to create an incredible mural under a railway bridge in the historic Walthamstow Marsh as part of the community ‘Mural in the Marsh‘ project.
With artists organised with the help of Global Street Art, the idea was to transform an unattractive underpass often daubed with graffiti at the centre of one of London’s most beautiful areas, into a celebration of the marshes wildlife. Where once one would have jogged a little bit quicker or walked a little bit faster to get through the underpass now joggers and walkers might be tempted to pause a little in order to enjoy a mini gallery with works from some of London’s finest artistic talents.
Painted mainly over the August bank holiday weekend, the first days painting was all but called off with artists battling valiantly against the downpours on a soaking start to the weekend. It meant that all hands were on deck on the Sunday which mercifully was a lot brighter and drier. By mid afternoon though the walls of the underpass were really taking shape.
One of the successes of street art is how the public interact with it. During the time that I was there the art had already attracted a lot of attention with children in particular seeming to really enjoy the art and asking a lot of questions about the wildlife portrayed. People who would have normally walked on through the underpass also stopped to speak to the artists, take photos and learn about the project.
As usual some photos below from this project that once again brings street art closer to the community and which really adds value to it’s surroundings.
Before the main project had begun some local school children from the Lea Bridge Road area had already helped to create this colourful mural alongside local artist JaneyJanePaint was supplied by Forest Recycling Project, with further kind donations from Cowling & Wilcox and numerous local Walthamstow residents who raided their sheds to bring the artists spare paintHannah Adamaszek created some beautiful foxes along her section of the wallLots of members of the public stopped to linger along the underpass appreciating the artA mixture of materials were used. Hannah makes use of spray paint, traditional brush painting and charcoalSneaky foxes on the wallFox in the UndergrowthKaris Knight was drawing a snake and this would make up the tail end of the muralSome of the detail from her muralThe majority of the artists were all at the other side of the underpass.Della Rees, a locally based artist from Walthamstow, portrayed the grasslands of the marshZadok creates some beautifully intricate pieces of workAdding the final touches to this kestrel about to pounce on it’s preyAbout to pounce, the picture shows Zadok’s original sketchZadok also produced this incredible piece underneath one of the archesLouis Masai usually uses his street art to raise awareness of the plight of endangered speciesMasai decided to capture this grey heron in full flightThe detail Masai puts into his work really brings the bird to lifeBrazilian artist Mateus Bailon also draws birds.Bailon has been painting his birds all over London and this was his last project before heading off to Barcelona for his first solo show. Here he has painted a pair of Crested GrebesThrough the grasses Bailon’s Bird fits the environmentBailon’s Bird in FlightPrior to creating on the wall Bailon often does a quick sketch but once he starts on the wall anything could happen he just sees where the art goesA can ready to be usedDave from Gnasher Murals at work on his CommerantThe paint tray with splashes of black, white and yellowAdding the final touches, Gnasher Murals are based in Norwich but often paint in London creating incredibly detailed pieces of artBoe painted a pair of swansBoe was one of the first to finish his section of the wallBlight Society finished early too and produced these grazing cowsArtist Lorraine Ward was adding reeds and grasses to the muralHer inspiration came from a quick drawing she had made based on the marshThe mark of an artist hard at work, she had some very colourful handsWatch out for the Artists, pass with care
Update – 7th September 2013 – I returned to the marsh to see the official opening and also to look at the pieces of mural that were unfinished when I visited in August. Below are some updated pictures from the mural completed during the intervening weeks.
Louis Masai completed a grey heron in flightMasai also added a BeeLorraine Ward’s Dragonflies are now completedEsther Neslen added these geese as part of the muralA close up of Karis Knight’s grass adderInfluenced by tribal patterns Mural on the Marsh was only the second time Karis had tried outdoor paintingOrganiser Fabien Ho, local artists Esther Neslen, Della Rees and Karis Knight and Lee Bofkin from Global Street Art
Mural on the Marsh is a community art project taking place mainly over the bank holiday weekend of 24-26th August and which officially opened on 7th September. The mural can be found under the intersecting railtracks and tunnel on the Walthamstow side of the marsh and is a 20 minute walk from Clapton Train Station. The project was curated and managed by Fabien Ho from Fabsternation, with the assistance of Lee Bofkin from Global Street Art, supported by Cllr Clare Coghill from Waltham Forest and funded by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Paint was supplied by Forest Recycling Project, with kind donations from Cowling & Wilcox and numerous local Walthamstow residents who kindly donated paint.
Mural in the Marsh map taken from the Mural in the Marsh Facebook page
For more information on the Mural on the Marsh project try:
Mind if I ask a ? about how sending out your blog posts as emails works, as I am trying to decide whether to email out the whole post or just an opening sentence and a link to the blog. When someone reads (opens!) your email, what kind of analytics feedback do you get, if any?
Hi Dave, it’s best to send out the whole post in my view that way it’s easier for people to read in one go without having to click. In terms of analytics I use WordPress and so far as I can see there’s no way of telling if anyone has opened up the email or not. Analytics otherwise are pretty good though and they break page views down into country and post as well as unique views and page clicks etc. Stu
HI Stuart
A great post as always.
Mind if I ask a ? about how sending out your blog posts as emails works, as I am trying to decide whether to email out the whole post or just an opening sentence and a link to the blog. When someone reads (opens!) your email, what kind of analytics feedback do you get, if any?
Cheers
Dave
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Hi Dave, it’s best to send out the whole post in my view that way it’s easier for people to read in one go without having to click. In terms of analytics I use WordPress and so far as I can see there’s no way of telling if anyone has opened up the email or not. Analytics otherwise are pretty good though and they break page views down into country and post as well as unique views and page clicks etc. Stu
nice local artists i see
Arrrrrrrrrr another part of London I need to trek oooover to…
lol it is a trek but it’s worth it 🙂
apt and well executed; more please.
Thanks more will certainly be coming 🙂