Street mural installed on St. George’s Theatre hoardings

The completed mural created by street artist Silent Hobo has now been installed in Great Yarmouth to decorate the hoardings around the St George’s Chapel development whilst work is currently under way to renovate the building. The mural was commissioned for the town through a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The mural depicts characters representing key points in Yarmouth’s heritage and cultural life, from the 17th Century, to the maritime and tourist heritage up to its focus in 1960s youth culture with the Mods and Rockers.

“My main idea for the piece was to represent the people through this period of history right up to the present day with elements of history passing by in the background” explained artist Silent Hobo.

“To manage such a large mural, I broke the periods of history into sections and I’d originally sketched out a design for approval and pretty much stuck with it. There are many misconceptions when it comes to spray painting, It can have a negative effect on an area, but it also can have a positive effect too when done with ideas and consideration.”

The mural also features a local man, Michael Blank, who is chairman of “Comeunity”, the local Neighbourhood Management organisation. Michael is also Treasurer of the Middlegate Community Association. He was nominated and won a public vote to feature in the mural in recognition of his work to improve the lives of people from South and Central Yarmouth.

    St. George’s Chapel, 19.01.11

It is expected the decorative hoardings will stay in place around St Georges until major works are completed during its renovation into a multi-purpose arts centre. The development of St George’s is the Borough’s principle regeneration programme. The building is expected to be open to the public in early 2012.

To see a video of the mural with the artist at work, a time lapse animation can be viewed on the homepage of Seachange Arts website – www.seachangearts.org.uk

Information provided by SeaChange Arts.

Spray Art workshops

Street artist Silent Hobo will be in Great Yarmouth on Saturday 6th November to work with the community to finish a large street mural being commissioned for the town, funded with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The drop-in workshops take place outside Great Yarmouth library from 10am-4pm, where the local community will be given the chance to finish off filling in the mural in a paint by numbers spray art workshop.

The finished mural will then be used to decorate the hoardings around the St George’s Chapel development whilst work is under way to renovate the building.

The work depicts key points in Yarmouth’s heritage and cultural life, from earliest beginnings, through maritime and tourist heritage up to its focus in 1960s youth culture with the Mods and Rockers.

The mural has been created by Bristol based artist Silent Hobo. A character-based artist who works on large-scale street murals, Silent Hobo mixes comic art influences, graffiti and Manga. His work is featured on buildings around Bristol and has been exhibited at The Tobacco factory in Bristol and Selfridges in London.

“My main idea for the piece was to represent the people through this period of history right up to the present day with elements of history passing by in the background” explained Silent Hobo. “To manage such a large mural, I broke the periods of history into sections and I’d originally sketched out a design for approval from the board and pretty much stuck with it. It is so important to have a good design before attempting a mural of any kind.”

The mural also features a local man, Michael Blank, who is chairman of “Comeunity”, the local Neighbourhood Management organisation. Michael is also Treasurer of the Middlegate Community Association. He was nominated and won a public vote to feature in the mural in recognition of his work to improve the lives of people from South and Central Yarmouth.

The works have all been created on panels, which will be attached to the hoarding around the chapel during its renovation into a multi-purpose arts centre and it is expected these will stay in place until major works are completed. Work on erecting the hoardings is due to start within the next few weeks.

Silent Hobo’s Spray Art workshop takes places outside Great Yarmouth’s Central Library from 10am-4pm on Saturday 6th November

Silent Hobo to create murals at St. George’s

SeaChange Arts are calling for nominations for a Great Yarmouth community champion to take their part in two murals being commissioned for the town and supported by the heritage lottery fund.

The murals will be used to decorate hoardings around the St George’s Chapel development. The work depicts key points in Yarmouth’s heritage and cultural life, from earliest beginnings, through maritime and tourist heritage up to its focus in 1960s youth culture with the Mods and Rockers.

The murals are being created by Bristol based artist Silent Hobo.  A character-based artist who works on large-scale street murals, Silent Hobo’s work mixes comic art influences, graffiti and Manga. His work is featured on buildings around Bristol and has been exhibited at The Tobacco factory in Bristol and Selfridges in London.

Silent Hobo will work on the 30-metre mural for St George’s Chapel during two visits to the town over the coming months. The work will be created on panels, which will be attached to the hoarding around the chapel during its renovation into a multi-purpose arts centre. It is expected these will stay in place until major works are completed. Following that, individual panels will be donated to various groups around town with the successfully nominated local figure receiving the panel featuring them.

As the murals will exhibited in the King Street area and are part of the ongoing regeneration project there, SeaChange Arts would like people to nominate community champions from the King Street and Middlegate areas. “We’re looking for someone who’s an unsung hero, someone who enhances their community, environment or who supports the work and lives of others,” explained Sarah James. “They could be a neighbour, a friend or a relative, perhaps someone who works tirelessly for charity, the environment or inspires in any aspect of life.”

Nominations can be made by emailing their name and 100 words explaining why they’ve been nominated to mailto://David1@seachangearts.org.uk Alternatively, nomination forms can be picked up in venues along King Street.

Cobholm Underpass Mural

The ARC Artists Group was one of the  lucky voluntary groups to be approved by people living in Cobholm, Southtown and Halfway House wards for a Neighbourhood Management  “Your Neighbourhood, Your Decision” grant .  Katarzyna Coleman, Chair of ARC, submitted a proposal to start a project to run workshops with local residents and the young people who use the nearby sports facilities to design and paint a mural in the underpass in Cobholm.

Kate at the Underpass with Chris and Neil from Addison Decorations Ltd.  who have offered to support the project with professional advice.

£10,000 altogether was allocated for projects which will benefit local people, around £500 available per project, with all project ideas being put forward by residents and local organisations.   The results of the voting were announced on the 25th March 2010 at the Edward Worlledge School, Suffolk Road, an occasion that genuinely felt like a celebration of community spirit. Congratulations to Holly and Erika for such a successful start to this neighbourhood initiative. 

The team is now based at 110 Lichfield Road where residents are welcome to come and talk about anything to do with life in the three wards.  Further neighbourhood gatherings have been organised for 16th April, Southtown Neighbourhood Group, Lichfield Community Centre, 10.30 a.m.; 20th April Cobholm Neighbourhood Group, Cobholm Primary School, 1.30 p.m.; 21st April, Halfway House Neighbourhood Group, Claydon Pavilion Community Centre, 10.30 a.m.