Mural Painting Improving School Grounds

A New Mural for Barugh Green Primary School.
By Stephanie Renshaw - www.livingwallsmurals.co.uk

‘I’d like it to say something about Barnsley!
You know, show off all the interesting places and history we have round here.’

…??!!

This was the mural brief given to me by Michael Gilmore of Barugh Green Primary School in Barnsley.

I’ve previously painted two murals at the school showing images from the natural world and around the globe. This time we felt that is was Barnsley’s turn to be acknowledged. And it turns out that there was plenty to be discovered!

Talking with teachers, pupils and parents at the school enlightened me as to what was commonly associated with the area. Barnsley football team was popular - no surprise there then! And lots of people spoke about the coal mining past of the area - a visit to the National Coalmining Museum seemed like a good idea - and free too!

But mention of an ancient abbey nearby continued to crop up and arouse my curiosity. I grew up just fifteen miles away from the school and thought I would have heard of, if not visited most of what the area had to offer. Monk Bretton Priory was a new one to me.

I set off from the school with a long, exciting list of places to visit, photograph and take notes on - it was time to explore!

Since Monk Bretton Priory was nearest and since, to me, it was the most intriguing I decided to start there.
I followed a little biro map a teacher had drawn for me through several villages towards the outskirts of Barnsley trying also to follow a trail of tiny, faded and battered brown, tourist road-signs for the fabled priory.
I found myself going round and round in circles in a small unassuming housing estate. I pulled up, ‘it’s got to be near here’ I decided. ‘It must be pretty small.’
I got out of the car to find someone on foot to ask and suddenly realised I had arrived. The lay-by I’d pulled into was actually the car park for the 12th century abbey which has been hidden behind houses.

I entered the grounds and before me lay an expanse of well cared for lawns and poplar trees surrounding the huge and beautiful remains of the abbey. Complete with arched windows and spiral stairways leading to lost floors. It is truly a magnificent relic and a real surprise to find.

It was a wonderful start to my exploration of the area surrounding the school. The site thoroughly investigated and photographed, I moved on to the other locations. In the same day I did a whistle stop tour including the National Coal-mining Museum, Cannon Hall Country Park, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the beautiful rolling hills of the area surveyed as they are, for miles around by the towering presence of Emley Moor Mast.

A fun and fascinating day. I could have happily spent much longer at each site. I’m sure that there must be plenty I missed. Barnsley certainly proved itself to hold many places of genuine cultural and historical interest. It was time to put together all the images I had gathered.

The hard work done, now to transfer the design to a 2.5M x 6.5M, exterior, brick wall during the wet and windy English summer! With much standing on Gym horses and tying together of skipping ropes a tarpaulin was erected and tied in place. The painting began.

Now some of the fascinating historical and cultural facets of Barnsley are acknowledged and celebrated for eternity (well, at least for the next 10 years!) and the only thing in the painting that required a bit of artistic licence was the weather!

The Verdict:

“It really raises the moral of the teachers, pupils and parents. Such a stunning mural makes us proud of our school!”
Michel Gilmore, Headmaster

“It Cheers me up every morning when I go into school”
Teacher

“I see something different each day, it makes me want to visit all the places”
Pupil

“A stunning way to highlight Barnsley’s assets”
Parent

“Even passers by have stopped to admire it - its wonderful!”
Caretaker

If you would like to improve your school grounds with a mural on any theme, please contact Stephanie Renshaw by telephone:
07792 774 586

or email:

livingwallsmurals@yahoo.co.uk to arrange a free consultation

If you are interested in seeing my other murals you can visit my website: www.livingwallsmurals.co.uk

Other interesting sites relating to this article:
www.barnsley.org/barugh-green-primary
www.monkbrettonpriory.org.uk
www.yps.co.uk (Yorkshire Sculpture Park)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emley_Moor (Emley Moor Mast information)

Mural Painting

Painted walls are possibly the oldest manifestation of art. They start right back with cave paintings, and reappear throughout history in various forms, from ancient frescos to the famous work of Michelangelo’s ceiling of the Sistine chapel in the 1500's.

The function of and motivation behind murals is enormously diverse. Some are propaganda, some advertising. Some are informative, often historical or religious. Some are considered decorative and others, vandalism. In fact there is probably a mural to represent almost every genre and function art has seen over the course of time.

One of my motivations for painting murals is that I enjoy making such a big statement.

I enjoy representing nature in many of my paintings,
commissions along this theme are always welcome. I've worked for clients such as the RSPB and the Forestry Commission and also smaller environmental centres such as the ‘Boat Place’ (a dolphin information centre in New Quay, Mid Wales) and this entrance piece (above) for the ‘Magic of Life’ Butterfly House (Cwm Rheidol, Ceredigion).

My most recent work for Barugh Green Primary School, was a joy to design and paint as I felt it was an acknowledgement of what makes that particular locality special.

I love to see the illusion of space and depth created on a flat surface. All representational art is, to some extent trompe l'oeil (trick of the eye) but some artists are able to play with this and take it to astonishing extremes.

One of Europe’s biggest examples of this is painted on a single 120M2 wall in the Silk-Workers' quarter of Lyon, a French city famous for its painted walls. The huge painting represents individual inhabitants of the quarter and is continually updated showing the residents having aged and cars and shop fronts changed with the times.

It's pleasing to me that there is still a demand for, and an urge amongst artists to create, giant scenes across our urban landscape, and I’m proud to add to it

If you would like your own handpainted mural on any theme, please contact Stephanie Renshaw by telephone:
07792 774 586

or email:

livingwallsmurals@yahoo.co.uk to arrange a free consultation

If you are interested in seeing my other murals you can visit my website: www.livingwallsmurals.co.uk