Tag: SWG3

Govan Mural Trail

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

I had a nice morning taking part in the Govan Mural Trail as an assistant tour guide. About 18 people joined Angie and I for a stroll around the area to see the murals that make up the trail. The murals are part of the Glasgow Riverside Innovation District (a.k.a. GRID) by the team at SWG3. On the tour leaflet, there are QR codes which link to songs created by the Glasgow Barons to accompany each of the murals, I will add a link to them here.


Mural #1

Firstly we visited Smug’s gable end mural on Govan Road at the Riverside Gardens, this mural depicts a small girl picking up a daffodil, with scenes of Govan’s industrial heritage behind her, including an image of the great ocean liner, Empress of Britain, which was built in Govan by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and launched in 1905.

https://www.instagram.com/smugone/?hl=en
The song on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzHEiAnMgVA&t=2s

Mural #2

The next stop on our route was Crossloan Road where the next 3 murals are close to each other. KMG’s The Flock is built around the themes of migration and new families arriving in Glasgow and depicts two birds cradling their young.

http://www.kmgyeah.com/
The song on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60t1_zKQ9d0&t=2s

Mural #3

A short stroll to the next corner found us in front of a mural depicting one of Govan’s famous sons, Sir Alex Ferguson, created by the Artisan Artistworks team of Frank and Mandy Carty also shown on this mural are 4 women wartime munitions workers inspired by a photo kindly donated by a former Govan resident.

https://www.instagram.com/artisanartworks/?hl=en-gb
The song on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuOIepCzjdc&t=2s

We didn’t have far to go to see the next mural on the trail, it is on the adjacent wall of the shop. This mural features Isabella Elder and Mary Barbour near where Mary lived during the 1915 Rent Strikes and the Elder Park gifted to the people of Govan by Isabella.

https://protestsandsuffragettes.com/
The song on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZamdZgNebUE&t=1s

Mural #5

Although not part of the tour the next mural on Paisley Road West is worth adding to the trail, this piece by Glasgow artist Tragic O’Hara is a bit of a mystery as all of its elements reference something from the Cessnock, Ibrox and Govan area. Gavin Paterson’s song which accompanies the mural apparently tells the story of all the items painted on the wall.

https://www.facebook.com/mrtragicohara/?locale=en_GB
The song on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUlEHF3L7CA&t=3s

Many thanks to Invisible Cities (Glasgow), SWG3 (GRID), and the Glasgow Barons for their input and for making this tour possible.

A busy time gone by …

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Music, Street Art, Volunteering

I’ve been very busy lately, hence the lack of recent input to my blog. It all started with Yardworks, followed by volunteering at the Glasgow Mela, and this past weekend I was volunteering at Doune The Rabbit Hole festival, more information on each of these follows:

Yardworks

One of my favourite events is Yardworks, held at SWG3, this annual street art festival is one of my favourite weekends in Glasgow. The event, held on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th June, is one of Europe’s biggest dedicated to street art and graffiti – with artists and writers from across Glasgow, the UK and Europe coming together to paint and draw, creating an explosion of colour.

On the nearby railway arches, wall spaces and boards in the yard, the highly skilled artists including Smug, Ejek, Rogue One and many others worked side by side with some of the most celebrated names from around the globe – including Zurik, Bublegum, and Balstroem.

Smug + Bublegum + The Guzler

I was there on the Saturday with my mate Jim and his 10 year old grandson Jack and It was so good to be able to meet and chat with friends old and new, Jack was enthralled by the talent on display and expressed an interest in trying out some spray painting himself in the future.

Jack and his favourite mural

Sunday saw me back again, this time with my friends Gary and Jan Gammage, it was great to see the works develop and to see the eventual finished articles. Gary & Jan were interested in the many different techniques used, spray paint, palette, brush and the use of stencils in the development of the pieces.

It was a brilliant weekend, great art, good food and fun in the company of friends, what more could you ask for.

My photographs from the weekend can be found here.

Glasgow Mela

Sunday the 26th found me in Kelvingrove park volunteering at the Glasgow Mela, an annual multicultural music and dance festival. The Mela began in 1990 as part of Glasgow’s year as the European City of Culture and has grown from being an indoor event at the Tramway to an outdoor extravaganza, with something for all the family.


I was assigned as the Artist Liaison for the Navras (main) stage, which kept me busy for the whole day. At this stage, we had a variety of acts, dance, music and performance arts. Amongst the acts that entertained me and the crowds were Deesh Sandhu, Hunterz and the headliner Jaz Dhami and his band.

Being busy for most of the day I missed out on some of the other activities on offer but did manage to grab a nice lamb curry for lunch from one of the many food outlets on site.

Doune The Rabbit Hole

Doune the Rabbit Hole is an intimate, independent music & arts festival located amidst the glorious ancient oak trees of the Cardross Estate, near the Lake of Menteith, in Stirlingshire. Starting in 2010, at a site near the town of Doune (hence the name!) they have been celebrating the very best of Scotland’s independent arts scene alongside amazing international guests. This year’s line-up included main stage headliners like the legendary Patti Smith and Band, multi-million selling Scottish singer-songwriter Amy MacDonald, homegrown, world-famous talent Belle & Sebastian, English post-punk duo Sleaford Mods and Bellshill natives and superstars Teenage Fanclub, one of my son Graeme’s favourites (the video below is for him). I really enjoyed the set by Esperanza, a Glasgow Ska band, they took me back to my youth.

I was the artist Liaison on the Bandersnatch stage which had a sort of folkie and blues vibes, and thanks to Chris Blackmore, the Stage Manager and Phil the Sound Engineer, the atmosphere there was pretty chilled and relaxing and we had some really entertaining artists on stage including The Mary Wallopers, Rachel Sermanni and John Francis Flynn, it was good to see and listen to Erin Bradley-Scott perform, Erin is one of my favourite art groups, The Cobolt Collective, she certainly is a talented lady. It seems like I can never get away from street art and artists, I even came across a nice piece by Ross MacRae next to the Jabberwocky stage, I really like his work.

There was also some exceptional food on offer, although there was a crew canteen I gave it a miss at times to sample the fare from Barnacles & Bones, Shawarmarama, and the Pizza Geeks.

As this was a weekend camping festival and I didn’t feel like camping, I decided to book a room in Willow Court, one of Stirling University’s halls of residence, overall this was a great choice. Another great weekend and I’m looking forward to heading back again next year

The Bird Man of Shawlands

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

Never mind the Birdman of Alcatraz, we have our own talented Birdman here in the southside of Glasgow. While out shopping the other day I came across some fine pieces on the soon to be demolished Shawbridge Arcade in Pollokshaws, which apart from a lonely bookies shop, is almost derelict. The pieces, mainly by Mack Colours and Frodrik, certainly brighten up the area. I spoke to one old lady resident who stated that “that boy sure knows his burds, he shoud’a done this years ago“. With some other pieces from Glasgow’s TapendTef and Mul-Draws, who is on a visit to the city from Newcastle, the murals are now drawing people to it and the area. It’s a shame they will disappear when the arcade is gone. UPDATE The murals also attracted the attention of the local newspaper, you can read their article here

Click here to see the Location of the murals

Frodrik’s Blues

A couple of days earlier whilst in Glasgow I spotted a couple of nice pieces by Frodrik in the Trongate area, showing his new ‘Blue Period’, one of a dog on Trongate and one of his stunning monochrome portraits on Hutcheson Street, both are up to his usual very high standard and are well worth a look. What I did like to see was a piece by Mul-Draws, who I met at Prefab77’s exhibition at Yard Life last week, it’s good to see these collaborations, I believe Frodrik and Mack Colours reciprocated by visiting Newcastle, recently.

Frodrik on Trongate
Frodrik & Mul-Draws on Hutcheson Street

A Slice of Life

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

I took a trip into Yard Life at SWG3 last night to see the new exhibition by Prefab77 (AKA Peter Manning). A Slice of Life, which is Peter’s first solo Scottish show, is a stunning series of portraits in a mixture of print, acrylic, spray paint, wheatpaste and varnish which creates a dark world of Gangs, Goddesses and Groupies, woven into pure, rock and rebellion. I had a good blether with Peter, a thoroughly nice guy, who stated that he loves Glasgow and is looking forward to returning in June for Yardworks 2022, I would love to see him in action then.

Prefab77
Native Love II
Killer Queen
Blame Society
Riot Heist
Power to the People

It was really good to see many of the Glasgow based artists visiting last night and to catch up with them, I look forward to seeing the many new pieces they were discussing when they appear.

On my way to the gallery, I walked down Haugh Street and on hearing some good music coming from a doorway, I peeked in to be surprised by some really good paintings of well-known chefs, by the style it looks like the work of Rogue One. It turned out to be the Dockyard Social, who state that they are the best street food traders Scotland has to offer, providing a taste of global comfort food, it certainly looks like a place I will return to.

Yardworks – The Arches

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

I recently took a trip down to see how the Arches Project at SWG3, was coming along, it was a really sunny day and it was good to meet up with Gaz, Dan, Barry, Smug, and the rest of guys working away. As usual, I took plenty of photographs, some from the narrow pavement beside the arches and some from across the Expressway.

Some pieces are completed, however many of the pieces are still to be finished and there are a couple of arches yet to be started. Most artists were assigned one arch, but Smug and the Cobolt Collective were each given 2, looking at what has been done to date on them they are making full use of the expanded space.

I was highly impressed with the work so far, but as I’m getting ready to disappear for a wee while, I’ll just have to wait to see the finished articles on my return.

Smug
Balstroem
Voyder
Sledone
Michael Corr
Conzo and GlobelC
Inkie
Box Vincent
Reaoner
Cobolt Collective
Mark Worst
Barry the Cat
Shona Hardie
Welinoo
Sapien

SWG3 Today

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

I had to visit the homebrew shop in Whiteinch for supplies, so I nipped into SWG3 while I was in the area, the place was busy with loads of metalheads there for the Lords of the Land festival, lots of long hair, leather and torn jeans, and bands I have never heard of, from what I could hear, it was pretty loud music!

Lords of the Land.jpg

It was good to see some new artwork in the yard, I was pleased to see that Mark Worst has finished the portrait I spotted him starting in January, noticed that Scent is developing his skills and a lot of good work by EJEK with AERS, SMUG amongst others.  It looks like they are gearing up for this year’s Yardworks in May.

Mark Worst
Smug
Scent
EJEK

Women on Walls

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

I took a trip down to SWG3 today to see a completed mural by a newly formed collaborative group of girls called the Cobolt Collective. The members of the group are Edda Karolina, Chelsea Frew, Erin Bradley-Scott, and Kat Loudon. As you can see, the work, in celebration of International Woman’s Day, is pretty special, I hope this is the start of large scale walls from this talented group.

The coboltcollective, Edda Karolina. Chelsea Frew Erin Bradley-Scott Kat Loudon
International Women’s day

While there I spotted a new piece, I think by Rogue One, which is a memorial to a girl called Hannah, There was also a fairly new Sci-Fi themed mural by a bunch called the SFM Crew from Dundee.

Cupid crashed in Glasgow

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

I was in Glasgow today and came across Pink Bear Rebel’s latest addition to the Glasgow scene, this time he has surprised city dwellers in the west end with a model of a Cupid that has flown straight into a wall.  Usually known for his political statements with his artwork, such as the one with a blindfolded Theresa May being led by a blindfolded Bulldog, perhaps he is showing his feelings on the commercialism of Valentine’s Day.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

While in town I took a trip down to SWG3 and spotted a piece by East London team EndofTheLine, who have been commissioned by Netflix to paint murals around the UK advertising a new show, one of the team is called Jim Vision so I thought it apt for me to post my image of his tag here.

 

SWG3 – Again

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art

With not a lot to do today, I took a trip to SWG3 to see a new piece by Conzo and Glöbel I had heard about. While I was there I bumped into Mark Worst as he was getting started on a new large scale mural, from what I have seen it will be really good, I took a photograph of his preliminary work but I won’t post it until the work is completed. Mark told me that this new work is part of his new direction of portraiture murals for 2019, I look forward to seeing more of his work.

While I was there I also had the chance to have a chat with Garry Mackay aka Gaz Mac, the director of swg3, it was great to eventually meet up with the man who many say is Glasgow Graffiti’s Driving Force. We blethered about the development of art in Glasgow and this year’s forthcoming YardWorks which I’m hoping will not be on while I’m away travelling.

I took some other photographs whilst there, mainly of stuff that the lads were working on last week.  I’ll credit the images later.