The new mural on the Span Arts building plays with language and storytelling and is based on words used to describe the local arts charity, as well as feedback about their work from audiences and participants in English and Welsh. The vowels have been edited allowing the words to still be identifiable through examination to enhance curiosity and prompt imagination. The colours taken from the Pembrokeshire flag.
Over recent years the organisation has been delivering high quality and a diverse range of music, theatre, comedy and voice events, alongside a wide range of arts and wellbeing projects across Pembrokeshire. When Span received funding to commission a mural artist, they wanted to portray something new, something that makes a bold statement about how the arts can change lives and something that reflects the diversity of their work.
Port Talbot born Grant Radford is the lead artist on the commission, he explains why he applied for the position “It looked like an exciting project and an opportunity to do something a bit different, it was also a chance for us to try new techniques and branding representation. It’s lovely to come back and work in Wales and the weather has been great too!”
As ever when a project arises, Span Arts like to get people from the community involved, one of their volunteers Ellie explains why she wanted to help. “Because I want to become a practising artist I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to be able to say I have had some experience helping create a mural and working with an artist, seeing how the process works and learning about that. It’s been interesting; the process has helped me learn how to create my own murals, and hopefully in the future I can apply this into my own career.”
Using a vinyl stencil technique each word is meticulously stuck to the wall, all other gaps are blocked out with paper and the stencil is sprayed with acrylic spray paint, once the paint is dry, the stencil is removed to reveal a crisp and bold finish.
We would like to thank Grant and his team for delivering such a bright, bold piece, also to our volunteers and to C & A Decorating suppliers for providing the scaffolding.
Next time your passing why not have a look at what words you can see!
Funded by Welsh Government’s Community Facilities Programme and the Arts Council of Wales.
