From squiggles and shapes to images of faces and a burglar heart, the shutters of shops along Wilmslow Road, Copson Street and beyond, have turned Withington into an outdoor gallery with more art appearing every month.
The street art from, Withington Walls, that has been bringing colour and pattern to the streets of Withington continues to blossom throughout the suburb and is well worth an early morning trek to the area. There are over 80 pieces of art attributed to Withington Walls in the village, with 52 shops, 21 walls, six cabinets and four lamp posts all decorated by artists for the project.
This week alone has seen more additions throughout the village with a full wall of a house, a shutter and a cabinet being painted. The wall is a part of the #paintforukraine and depicts peace doves by Matt Sewell.
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Meanwhile, Biskits’ shutter on Wilmslow Road is getting a makeover from Vanessa Scott. Other artists, including Oskar with a K, The Postman and Aske P19 have taken part in putting their style and stamp on shutters, streets and electrical boxes.
Oskar with a K explained why he decided to take part in Withington Walls, saying: “It looked like a really exciting project. It’s very community based, it’s not a corporate commercial thing, it’s very grassroots.
“I was excited by the prospect that the shutters and walls are being organised by Withington Walls, the paint’s provided, you just get to turn up and create some art. It’s very helpful actually, having a group like Withington Walls helping out for you, that’s really encouraging, that I can just show up and do the art.
“The Withington Walls ethos, essentially, is that the paint is provided and the artist will never be told what to paint.
"I’ve never felt that I’ve been pressured into painting certain things. I’m just able to enjoy myself and create something impactful.”
Oskar’s work can be seen all over south Manchester as he recently created an alphabet trail down the Fallowfield Loop and he believes that community art, and street art within that, creates a more inclusive community.
He said: “It shows that a place is properly lived in, it’s not being imposed on by big companies and property developers. It’s actually being created by the community and having an impact on the place. That’s what I feel when I’m in Withington, there’s so many different artists involved.
“Some projects, they get in all of the big names in street art to do stuff and that’s fine but I really enjoy that actually, predominately the artists involved in Withington Walls are up and coming artists.
“I think that that has a whole different energy as well, I feel very invited and welcomed in the space and excited by the work that up.”
SKEG, the visual artist behind the mural at the Withington Baths, got involved through this initial project but has gone on to create shutter artwork as well. He enjoyed how the paintings are making change in the area.
He said: “I became involved with Withington Walls initially to paint the back of the Withington Baths, which is the largest mural in the area. I liked the project because it is grassroots and it is making a real change to the landscape of the area, and Eddie (Withington Walls) is employing artists and helping them a lot.
“The artwork brings joy, it brings interest, it helps businesses as people come to look around the murals and then in turn spend their money within Withington. It helps businesses directly, as they get fresh artwork and doesn't mean their business looks drab. It lifts people's mood, helping people mentally and inspiring new artists.”
Scout, a Manchester based freelance community artist who lived in Withington for many years, feels that the murals brighten up the community and has been thanked by passersby for adding colour and art to the streets.
She explained why she got involved: “It just looked so exciting and such a nice way of engaging with the community through lockdown. I thought my art style would suit the work and I liked the idea of having it on show for passersby to see.
“I’m a big advocate for community art so it was really exciting for me to see in an area that I lived in for so long as well. It creates quite a unique talking point for the area, I don’t know of any other areas that have got anywhere near the same level of community art so it’s really cool.
“I know from my experience of drawing them that passersby will frequently stop to compliment it or to say thank you for brightening up their community. I’ve had comments about how it makes the area look nicer and how they hope it keeps on happening and that we get more and more pieces of art in the neighbourhood.”
Ed Wellard, the founder of Withington Walls, enjoys the colour and creativity that the murals bring to the village. Despite the Walls project initially starting in 2019, the first murals were not started until 2020 following a crowdfunding campaign.
Now, almost all of the shutters along Wilmslow Road and down Copson street are painted. Ed doesn’t think the project will ever be finished, as there are always more walls and instead hopes to take the project further with exhibitions and art trails.
Talking about the future of the project, he said: “I think Withington Walls could be part of a wider art and cultural offering in Withington.”
“We are working with MA TV, Film & Drama students at Salford University on a couple of projects. The first is augmented reality that will bring some of the artworks to life through the artivive app in collaboration with digital artists, and the second is a series of short films on some of our artists and their work.
“We're also working on a digital art trail, to help people find all the work and find out a bit about each of the murals and the artists behind them.”
However, there is the possibility that the village will run out of paintable surfaces, but Ed is hopeful that the artwork will continue.
He explained: “More work is planned, but we will run out of spots. I think there’ll then be be opportunity to renew spots. There will be work that can be replaced by the artist, or a new artist to keep it fresh.
“I think there will come a point where the artwork becomes tired or damaged and we’ll replace it. But there’s plenty more walls I’d like to paint, there’s plenty more shutters I’d like to paint and there’s plenty more street cabinets.
“I think there’s a funny element to it that people don’t realise just how much there is because the times of day that they go to the village or through the village.”
Ed advised that the best time to visit Withington Walls would be early or late, or on a Sunday. To see the full extent of painted shutters, it’s best to visit before the shops open, or after they close.
He added: “It’s kind of accidentally exploded a bit at the moment. I’ll jump at opportunities to work with artists if they’re in the area or if they’re available or like with the paint for Ukraine piece by Matt Sewell, which was something we needed to move fast with. If the opportunity is there, I try to seize it really.”
Withington Walls is entirely funded by the generosity of the community and always welcomes donations in the form of funding or materials. For more information about how to help out visit the Withington Walls website .
