Europe's largest street art festival is planning to be 'bigger and better than ever before' in 2022 to mark its 15 year anniversary. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Upfest took place in alternative ways for the past two years however for 2022 it's back in full swing.
The festival promises to return its traditional format with an additional twist. Fans the festival can expect to see incredible murals emerging in the streets of Bedminster from street art’s freshest talents from May 5 onwards.
Then, following three weeks of street painting, the festival weekend will see hundreds of artists painting live with festival hubs at the Tobacco Factory and Ashton Gate Stadium. This year Upfest will use Greville Smyth Park as its main venue for the first time, with music and live painting to be enjoyed at the green space across the weekend.
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The festival is free to attend and the street work traditionally painted during the festival weekend, will now be created leading up to the main events on May 28 and 29. This will allow more people to enjoy the exciting opportunity of witnessing these spectacular creations come to life firsthand.
The murals will be complete for viewing while over 250 artists paint live alongside music stages and food and drink experiences on the festival weekend. Visitors can see the works in progress in their final form.
You can keep an eye out for the artworks appearing whilst enjoying their progress. You can even make it a challenge to see how many you can spot before the big weekend.
Upfest co-founder Steve Hayles said: “It feels great to be bringing the festival back in all its glory, especially for its 15th year anniversary. 2022 will see a new format to the festival with three weeks of street painting then a weekend with a true festival feel at Greville Smyth Park, we can’t wait to bring the fans of the festival together again for an incredible weekend of live painting."
What to expect?
The festival will also be supporting the NACOA (National Association of Children of Alcoholics), and Hayles says they will "be back at the festival making sure the kids have a fantastically crafty time". As well as this, POSCA Paint Pens and Kobra Spray Paint will help make the festival possible, providing artists with materials to create masterpieces.
This year, Upfest has teamed up with Igers Bristol to bring a photo exhibition to Ashton Gate Stadium. Across their social channels, the team at Igers called out for street art fans to use the hashtag #upfestxigersbristol for a chance for their own photos to be used in this collaboration. The tag has received over 1,000 submissions since and people can see their snaps printed out as polaroids over the weekend.
As well as being a festival hub, Ashton Gate will also be selling limited edition print runs of the brand new murals that have emerged over the past month as part of Upfest 2022. You can expect to see works from Festival artist Squirl, HazardOne, Rosie Woods, Sophie Mess, FLX, Inkie, Sian Storey and many more of your Upfest favourites.
Over at the Tobacco Factory, Upfest go-ers will see the return of the much loved ‘Pen Battles’ where artists battle each other in the ultimate drawing challenge.
Food and Drink:
The festival hosts an array of food and beverage traders and this year the bars are cash free. Festival goers are asked to pay by card at the bar.
Prohibited Items:
Visitors are being asked to bring their own reusable drinking cups or bottles where possible as there will be no single use plastic on site. There is to be no glass or alcohol brought onto the festival site with random bag searches at the entrances.
Transport:
If you’re a first time visitor to the festival or travelling to Bristol especially, you can get the train to Bedminster from Temple Meads train station, and the bus travels through Bedminster regularly. You can find out more information over at First Bus for your quickest route.
Upfest organisers advise to take public transport or walk to the festival where possible, with easy access into Bedminster from the city centre through Wapping Wharf.
Parking:
There will also be parking at Ashton Park School on a first come first serve basis, for £5, where all the proceeds going to the school’s art department.
What artwork can you expect see?
As you’re making your way through Bedmisnter to Greville Smyth, you’ll spot some of the brand new murals that have been painted especially for Upfest ahead of the festival. On the North Street Standard, Dave Puck has painted a fantastic floral portrait, with artist Karl Read having created a comic-book style mural of President Zalenseky on Avon News.
Hidden inside the Ebenezer Pocket Park is a brand new mural called ‘Mycelium Girl’ which was completed by street artist, Philth Blake in his signature style. Near the Hen and Chicken is a collection of new artworks, including a photo-realistic portrait from Zaboo, a futuristic creation by Snub23 and other notable pieces from Teaone and street art legend, Kid Crayon.
