In my previous post about Chichester Street Art I shared a tour of the various locations around the city which feature murals by top international street artists. Many of the pieces were painted during the 2013 Street Art Festival organised by local resident and artist Neil Lawson-Baker in partnership with Street Art London.
Sadly Neil died last year and his stepson Mike Hoebee wanted to continue his legacy of supporting the arts, so he has organised another street art festival, ten years after the first one. It’s all happened very quickly, and Mike has been extremely busy, pulling together venues and artists in just six weeks to add more urban art to the Chichester landscape.
What inspired the first Chichester Street Art Festival?
I met Mike at one of the venues which has offered a wall to a local artist to paint, The Bell pub in Broyle Road. What I hadn’t known was what inspired Neil to organise the original festival in the first place, but luckily Mike was keen to fill in the gaps for me.
In 2010 a mural appeared at the entrance to County Hall, home to West Sussex County Council. It depicted Father Christmas making a rude gesture with the words Bah Humbug, widely believed to be an original Banksy. It was painted as a reaction to the council’s decision to rule that Christmas lights would not make an appearance that year, and their response to the mural was to paint over it. The irony is that if they had somehow been able to sell it, they would have made enough money to power the Christmas lights for decades!
What’s happening in 2023?
So Mike has picked up the baton and invited a new cohort of artists to come to Chichester and create some exciting new art there.
There are a number of events happening over the weekend of June 10th – 11th, and we are just hoping for good weather so that the artists can work outside and everyone can enjoy watching them paint in the sun over a pint of beer.
Crafty Bishop
The 2023 Chichester Street Art festival is centred around the Crafty Bishop pub at Southgate, where there is a paint jam on Saturday evening from 6-9pm (weather permitting). Mike has invited 6 emerging artists to paint large hoardings, and the audience will choose their favourite with the winner receiving a commission to paint a permanent piece at The Chantry, just around the corner. The artists are a diverse group with styles ranging from fine art to graffiti.
DJs will be providing the music from midday until 11.30pm and entry is £5 for anyone attending after 5pm.
The hoardings will be on display all weekend and then will tour the district over the next few weeks, and each one will then be featured back at the Crafty Bishop, on show to the general public. They will then be available to purchase, a unique opportunity to own a unique piece of art from a paint jam.
The Bell
In the days leading up to the 2023 Chichester Street Art Festival on June 10th and 11th, Samuel McGann painted a mural on the side of The Bell pub in Broyle Road. Samuel is a fine art graduate based in Chichester and you can see more of his work on his website and Instagram feed.
On the Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Samuel will be at The Bell to meet visitors and talk about his art and the inspiration behind his piece there.
The Escapist
The Escapist is a craft beer pub in Crane Street, and the owners have provided a wall which will be painted over the weekend. It all sounds very hush hush and if you’d like to see the mural then ask at the bar and you’ll be pointed in the right direction! This has certainly aroused my curiosity so I look forward to checking it out.
Guided tours
On Sunday, guided tours will start from Chichester College at Westgate Fields and take in some of the 2013 murals, walking through the town to Northgate and then finishing at The Bell.
Gallery
I will add photos to the gallery once the new pieces have been created and look forward to seeing some of the artists in action over the weekend.
So do please bookmark this page to see how the weekend went.