Mural Of The Month! The Living Room Mural

Now to present you with the London Mural of mystery!! Who? What? How? When? Why? Yes, mural of the month is an elusive character, teasing us by looking pretty but not revealing who its master was or when it was painted.

In fact we hit a brick wall (literally!! ). We thought it could be Mike Jones as stylistically it looks like his work. But no, it’s not him.  So, well *looks at shoes* we don’t know anything about it.

As you can see, it is painted directly onto brick and it’s probably some kind of household paint.  It’s fairly faded but not too bad. Some graffiti but minimal really!

Anyone out there got any ideas about the piece? The mural is in Shacklewell. Yes, Shacklewell, near Dalston! Ah, you have an idea where Dalston is. So more location information can be found here!

So what are you waiting for?? Go visit!!

Mural Of The Month! Wolsey Road Mural

So let’s get 2012 mural of the month kick started. What haven’t you seen? Where would you like to go? What’s easy to get to?

Well I decided we should have given this one a bit more of a song and dance last year as it was another mural which celebrated 30 years. The painting is located near Newington Green on Wolsey Road. It was painted in 1981 by artist Carolyne Beale. We visited it in May on our North East London Mural Walk.

It’s a bit of a strange piece. Usually murals have clear narratives about local life or about politics but this is a trompe l’oeil of a house with a small child standing outside the front.

As we haven’t managed to get hold of Carolyne, we can’t unlock the secret meaning of the piece – if there is any at all! Any guesses? Then answers on an arty postcard please!

Now for some more pictures of the details!

I love the double staircase and if you can find me a place like this, I’ll move in tomorrow! Yes, you are right, it is all a little surreal. Still for 30 years, it’s in good nick!

This close up shows evidence of paint peel and a crack going through the piece. But what do you expect for 30 years and no TLC. (Insert appropriate internet sad face!)

So, as usual, I’ll nag you to go and take a look. We have more information about this piece here.  Go on, have a wander and visit this piece. We never know when these things will disappear!

Review of the Year!!! 2011

Ho Ho Ho, Christmas is over and 2012 is already making its presence felt as we hope for new beginnings and fresh starts. So it’s a time for reflection over the last year. How has the London Mural Preservation Society faired in its second years, still all sparkly and new?

Feburary saw us rushing around getting ready for the event to mark 30 years of the Nuclear Dawn Mural in Brixton. Not only did we reunite the two original artists, Brian Barnes and Dale McCrea for the first time in 25 years but we managed to generate some publicity which led to an appearance on the BBC Radio London’s Robert Elms Show, an article in the South London Press and a small piece on the BBC London News.

This was all very exciting stuff for a little group in its infancy. We’d had an amazing event, with fantastic feedback from the people who came along and the profile of murals in London had been raised! More people took a look at the blog and the website as we spent time building up the number of murals to view online.

By May we had 40 murals live on the internet. This was the first time that London’s murals were appearing together with pics and history available for all the world to see! Our researchers were off visiting the length and width of London to photograph forgotten pieces or hanging around polling stations to get a glimpse of a mural in a school.

We also saw a great gallery of mural pictures put into the Telegraph ex-pats section and a mention in the Times. And we had visitors from around the world. The lovely people at Mural Locator came to visit us all the way from Washington DC in the USA.

May also saw the first of the 2011 Mural walks; a visit into North East London, starting at Dalston and finishing at Highbury Corner. We had muralist and artist, Diana Leary, with us, filling in some of the details about the pieces she had worked on.

This was also our first meeting with the Open Dalston people who would like the wonderful mural at Dalston Junction restored and protected. We hope to have more news about this project in 2012.

June and July saw repeats of the Brixton Mural Walk. Once in the rain for the Brixton Society; well done to those who braved the weather, and once on a glorious Sunday afternoon with muralist Brian Barnes to assist us with the stories.

The walk also got a very nice mention in the Londonist website as it was suggested as the best history in Lambeth. Wow!! Go us and go Brixton murals!!

July also saw the Brixton Academy Mural get a little bit of restoration work. We were involved with some consultation on this and putting the 02 in touch with artist Paul Butler who did the work on it.

A meeting with the teachers of the MA in Wall Painting Conservation at the Courtauld Institute has led to assistance from one of their graduates over the course of 2011/2012. Now we have the real experts on board and are looking forward to improving our understanding of repairing and maintaining murals for future generations.

On a rather rainy August day, the London Mural Preservation Society gave a talk for the Whitechapel Gallery’s project ‘Reclaim the Mural’. The history of London’s mural was condensed into 40 minutes with 60 slides! (I think we need some editing next time!!!) The Reclaim the Mural project also led to contact with Vinnie O’Connell at the New Leaf project and the possibilities of restoring the Brixton Windmill Mural. A plan is in place and we are hoping to secure the funding in the beginning of 2012. Watch this space for more information!

We also did our final walk for the season through the back streets of Surrey Quays, New Cross and Deptford. The best bit was the enthusiasm from the local community about their murals in particular, the Love Over Gold Mural on Creekside, Deptford. Asides from learning the great history of the pieces, we also made connections with people who would like to see the mural restored. The original artist Gary Drostle is keen to be involved so fingers crossed this will be another piece repaired in 2012.

The following day bought riots to the street of London and the destruction of a mural in Woolwich. We launched a facebook campaign and got some press interest. Many locals expressed a wish to create a new piece and it has led to some new contacts being formed.

It also brought the London Mural Preservation Society to the attention of local radio producer and reporter Andrea Rangecroft who did a programme on murals for her show on Hammersmith local station On FM 101.4.

September saw the launch of the Reclaim the Mural Exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Art collective “The Work in Progress” had spent the last year investigating murals with the aim to eventually creating their own.  Their research was displayed at the gallery and included a board about the work of the London Mural Preservation Society.

We also visited Paul Butler in September, who was working on the restoration of the Cable Street Mural. The mural got a new lease of life complete with an anti-graffiti layer and was ready in time for its re-opening on the 1^st October.

There was also a great little exhibition at Studio 1.1 featuring many original drawings from the mural. At the private view I was privileged to meet many people involved with the mural over the years; it was quite an amazing evening.

Well, October turned into November and we managed to persuade our friends from Open Dalston to do a talk about the Dalston Mural for the Reclaim the Mural Project. So on a blustery November Sunday, we talked about the history of the piece and the want to conserve it. A bit of tweeting got the attention of the Hackney Gazette and an article about the mural and plans for restoration appeared the following week.

And finally, the end of the year we had an article published in the London Society magazine, making available the background and history of the murals to a new audience.

So what can I say…it’s been an amazing year! Please put your hands together and give a big round of applause for our team of volunteers who have helped this project tick over: Matt, Pete, Alice, Bee, Richard, Sylvie, Hannah, Jim, Stewart, Sandy, Reuben and Hilary.

And a big thanks to all the muralists I’ve spoken to this year with a special mention to Diana Leary and Brian Barnes!

Mural of the Month! The Battersea Puzzle

Lets go back… back in time to the beginnings of this blog. In the second post we mentioned that the Battersea Puzzle mural was at risk ( back in July 2010 when I was a little bit younger and certainly a  lot less wiser about murals!). Well, back in September the piece turned the grand old age of 30.  Looking pretty worn, enough of it is still there to hint at the different local stories recorded in this piece. There are still plans for it to be pulled down and we know the church got planning permission back in late 2011. However, it’s still standing for the time being.  So catch it before it goes!

Here’s the whole piece. A bit of a pain to photograph!

It reflects a lot of things that were happening locally, cuts to libraries and facilities and the disappearing local industries which were leading to unemployment.

It also reveals a bit of the history of the church as the old building on the site had been destroyed in a fire. The vicar is portrayed standing amongst the ruins.

The vicar was one of the people involved in making the mural happen. It fell to the Wandsworth Art Resource Project to make the piece a reality. The mural was designed by Christine Thomas with Brian Barnes assisting on some areas of painting.

The mural features a giant broom and is in reference to Brian’s earlier mural: Battersea, the good, the bad and the ugly – postcard picture below.

So this mural has more than it’s fair share of interesting things to look at. Probably the only mural with a dog taking a pee in it!!

So please people, go and have a look at this mural before it goes. More details about location and the background to the mural is here!

Mural of the Month! The Cable Street Mural

Yes, Autumn or is it Winter has finally arrived! Christmas is  (gulp!) 9 weeks away and already time for the shops to get out their Christmas baubles and mince pies.

Well, forget Christmas, this month’s cause for celebration was the re-opening of the Cable Street Mural. On a very fine October Saturday, a new plaque was unveiled which tells the story of the battle of Cable Street and the Mural. Anyway mural of the month is about the pics so lets get cracking!

Over the late summer, one of the original artist’s Paul Butler has been working on the piece. Here’s the mural covered in scaffolding!

Already it is easy to spot the repair work happening to the top of the mural! Here’s it is before:

Scaffolding up and work being done:

And after:

The restored mural looks amazing and we, at the London Mural Preservation Society have  hope that when a mural gets repaired then the others will eventually follow!

And here’s Paul on one of his days working on the mural! Well done to him and his helpers for conquering one of London’s biggest murals!

And as We always say, make time and go to see the mural!!!

Brixton Murals Walk – Round 5 ! Ding Ding!

The Brixton Mural Walk first ran in 2008 as a local history walk for Brixton website, Urban75.  Now in its fifth outing, around 20 people came along to look at the murals of Brixton bringing a grand total of approx 100 people walking with us and learning the mural’s history!

To add a little variety to this year’s event and to exercise the other working members of the London Mural Preservation Society, they agreed to do some of the talking about the murals. First stop was the Stockwell Memorial Mural which Pete had researched.

We learn a lot about the history of the deep level shelter as well as the background to the mural subject and the story of local hero Violettee Szabo. We also had one of the original artist’s Brian Barnes who corrected any wrong assumptions and filled in more background details. It was great to have him there.

We swiftly (well as swiftly as 20 people crossing a busy roundabout in Stockwell can!)moved onto the next mural , the Slade Garden Adventure Playground Mural.

What was exciting to see is that someone has tenderly cut back the shrubbery around the mural. They had also cleaned away the green slime that had developed due to a leaky pipe.  It was great to see the mural getting some care and attention.

Marching on, we wandered through the Stockwell Park estate and up to the back of the Brixton Academy to view the 1982 Children at Play Mural by Stephen Pusey. Matt was up to speak about this one and even though he had be out celebrating his birthday the night before, did a fantastic job!!

Much of the mural was covered in scaffolding but this is a good thing as the mural has been under some restoration work led by artist Paul Butler who we recommended to the Brixton Academy! The top of the mural is now in a much better shape and hopefully measures are in place to ensure that the mural suffers from less water damage.

From here we marched on to look at the two Bellefields road Murals. Both are in fair condition though the one has work going on in front of it. Hopefully the view won’t be obscured. And then we moved onto the two pieces in the railway station.

We hope to persuade South Eastern train to invest a little time and energy into repairing these pieces – not much work is needed but it could secure the future of the paintings for many years to come.

Next stop was Nuclear Dawn where Brian Barnes told us bits about the history before we all took a welcome rest in the Dogstar.

From here we look at the tiny slithers of mural remains, left from two pieces created for the 1983 GLC Year for Peace.   Most people had never spotted these remaining bits before.

After this, we took a long walk up Acre Lane to look at the Big Splash mural.

Painted in 1985, this colourful piece often becomes many people’s favourite. It has an abundance of wildlife and I have yet to find someone who can identify all the plants and creatures on the mural.

Further up the road is another mural, the Mauleverer Road Mural, full of references to local history.

Unfortunately this has been under threat by potential development to the building that the wall belongs to. We have submitted an application for local listing but have struggled to get the council to pay attention.  We will wait to see what happens.

Finally the mural walkers hit the last mural, the Windmill mural painted in 1983.

This is the piece that is a sharp reminder of what is happening to the majority of London’s murals – the paintings fade or fall into ruins and become unloved. However there is good news as it is very likely the mural is to be restored. Watch this space for more information!!

Finally we made our way to a local pub for a well deserved rest!! Thanks to the speakers, the artists and all those who came along !!

Mural of the Month! The London Terrace

This month, we travel into deepest, darkest north London. Well, off Seven Sisters Road which for us South Londoners feels a long way to go! Located on the junction of Salterton road and Windsor Road is a trompe l’oiel style mural painted in 1985. The gable wall of the mid Victorian house is painted with a fake facade which mimics the architectural style of the building.

Through each of the windows,something different can be seen – a vase, some clouds, a cat and someone peeking out!

As the viewer gets to the edge of the image they realise that even the bricks aren’t real!

It seems there might have been a bit of a trend for this type of mural at time. Ken White did a large trompe l’oeil in Covent Garden in 1982. This image is from his website – click the picture to see his other work!

Gabriels Wharf, near Waterloo, still shows the remains of a row of painted house facades, also painted at some point in the 1980s. It is a visual trick which most people enjoy. Go and see if you can find anymore!