Glastonbury Mural Trail – Five Years On

Frank Harwood

Glastonbury artist Frank has painted several large murals for the Trail

“Most urban environments are boringly functional, with relatively few buildings of architectural merit, and little to delight the eye, lift the spirit, or break the visual monotony. What artist then, given the opportunity, would turn down the chance of showing their art on a giant scale, outside on the side of a house, shop, industrial unit or just on an available wall? The Glastonbury Mural Trail has provided much-needed support for artists to work at scale, bringing colour, bold design and stimulating images into the urban landscape.

I jumped at the chance to take my paintings and sculptures out of my tiny ‘studio’ and put them out into the world.  I was confident (vain) enough to believe that they would find an audience and that residents and visitors to the town would enjoy the images I was producing. My first mural, Waving Woman, was intended to greet people coming into the town along the A361 Shepton Mallet road.  I was delighted at how well it was received with lots of passers-by commenting favourably.  The house owner (Brad) was very on board and supportive of the whole project. Those of a certain age have recognised that the woman is loosely based on the classic 60s Ovaltine malted milk drink label.  Similarities to post-revolutionary Soviet agitprop posters only occurred to me on completion.

The second mural, Adam and Eve (Benedict Close) was much more ambitious and required a lot of scaffolding for access (for which thank you Mural Trail). I was very aware that it would be at pavement level, and that people would be able to look at it up close, so I crammed it with as many details as possible. The figures and the pose is based on the painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder (15th century). 

The tattoos that both figures are covered with are from a variety of sources, traditional naval, fairground, Japanese and Chinese. I tried to keep it whimsical, so Adam displays tattoos saying Mum and Lilith. I had anticipated some issues arising from the fact that the mural contains full frontal nudity, but that seemed to particularly delight the residents of the retirement complex Heritage Court, who watched the progress of the painting intently.  Many thanks to the house owners Caroline and Daniel who were very supportive. 

My third mural, Rhinoceros, on Church Lane, off the High St., was commissioned by Guy and Lynda Pursey. We had talked previously that the presence of murals can deter ‘tagging’, which the wall to the Crystal shop, had been prone to. I suggested a giant pink rhino, because – who expects that in a small Somerset town?  To my delight, they agreed and were fully on board. Because it was a relatively simple design I thought it wouldn’t take too long, but I had underestimated how many people use the lane, and everyone wanted to talk about it. The background story is quite interesting.  The image is copied (loosely) on the woodcut by Albrecht Durer, (15th century). He had never seen a rhinoceros and based the intricate drawing entirely on a description in a letter from a friend.  As I told people this story, they would all eagerly Google Durer on their phones, and every time it would autocorrect to Durex, leading to a lot of very puzzled looks.

I am very keen to do more murals around town and have lots of ideas, but suitable walls (ideally rendered, smooth with good access), are now becoming increasingly rare. In order to keep the mural project alive, and relevant, it might be worth considering over-painting some of the older murals”.

Sym – Rogues Gallery / Styles of Somerset

I’ve been selling street art supplies in Glastonbury since 2014. In 2015 I became the link between Bill Knight (property owner) and the street artists Luvm, Sikoh and DMK. Bill had asked John Mason to paint a tree on his wall to get rid of some tagging. John said to Bill I would be able to help get the wall turned into a full mural. It’s the one by Queen of Cups. As a piece of art it is a bit mad due to a lack of planning time and short scaffolding hire time, but its looseness on planning also helped create a unique/stand-out piece that was causing waves from the second we picked up a can. We (and Bill) were happy with the finished job but then Mendip council received complaints (size and colour) and it opened a can of red tape. The aftermath of this was realising how popular murals/street art could be in town as eventually after much bureaucracy Bill was ‘allowed’ to keep his wall the way he wanted it.

Alongside this, the late mayor, Emma George, had asked me where it would be good to build a legal graffiti wall. I suggested the skatepark and a few months later Glastonbury had its first legal wall, although we had already turned ‘the underpass’ into an unofficial legal spot, mainly thanks to Luvm getting the ok to paint it for a music video.

With the legal wall built and a ‘gift from the universe’ (a bloke called Tony), Rogues Gallery was granted money to organise (fund) an annual paint jam at the skatepark. It has always been a free event, with no money changing hands, except for insurance, licensing, rig-hire, and selling paint. We’ve tried to keep the ethos like the origins of paint jams I’d go to in Bristol: non-corporate, just painters and music. We would set up a sound system (Bin Skankerz) and local DJs would play tunes all day while the artists jammed out on the legal wall, ‘walls’ we built around the fence line, sides of ramps, caravans, vans, cars, a taxi…we had fun.

We now jam on the big wall by Aldi (less: paperwork / manual work) or at White Lake Park (Pylle). See Styles of Somerset on Facebook for pictures etc.

The Mural Trail gave me a chance to paint the Avalon Now piece. A spin on Apocalypse Now. This idea had sat in my head for years, so to be given a nice wall to paint that was great. I’ve also painted a fresh Rick n Morty piece as well as other commissioned walls in town: Children’s Hospice (Mouse), Vegan Pyramid (Girl blowing bubble), Dandelion Dreamz (Dandelion Lion)

I think the range of styles on the Mural Trail is brilliant. I hope it continues to be run, but not just by Kim seemingly single-handedly managing it (out of her time and resources). It would be nice for the Mural Trail to have a budget (sponsorship/funding) that recognizes the tourist appeal, social media impact, youth ‘vote’, etc. Financial support would result in better administrative management, online presence, mural maintenance, new mural funding, and keeping the vandalism down.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Kim above all for so much hard work, the town looks so much better than 10 years ago, I’m biased though, as a lover of colours, shapes and creativity. I’d also like to thank Normal For Glastonbury, all Styles of Somerset crew/artists, Rogues Gallery crew, Lost Projects skatepark/studio, Glastonbury Gabriel (YouTube), Heart of the Tribe – Julian, artists & crew, White Lake park, The King Arthur, Blue Cedar, all Mural Trail sponsors and artists, anyone I missed that has helped make Glastonbury look different/interesting/beautiful/fun”.

Mural Trail Fundraiser 19/9/24

The fundraiser event…
A fundraising event will be held at the Heart of the Tribe Gallery on Thursday, September 19th, to support the mural project. You can participate in a silent auction featuring artworks donated by local artists and a raffle with various prizes, including a custom mural trail print, a Dahlia notebook, and a Mural Trail Postcard book. The event will also coincide with the launch of the 5th edition of the Mural Trail map and leaflet, showcasing new murals and an updated website. Enjoy drinks, music, and good company from 6-9pm.

…and the exhibition
To celebrate five years of the Mural Trail, they are holding an exhibition at Heart of The Tribe Gallery from September 12 to October 20, showcasing original works by participating artists, and offering photos and prints of a huge selection of murals, past & present.