As part of the Waterford Walls Visual Street Art project one of the youngest artists, Caoilfhionn Hanton painted this version of her younger brother Alfie Hanton.
Twenty-five street artists – many of international renown – used some of Waterford’s derelict buildings as their canvases to turn the city into a massive open air gallery last weekend.
Waterford Walls, devised and co-managed by primary school teacher Edel Tobin, involved ‘thousands upon thousands of litres paint, cherry pickers, scaffolding, ladders, paintbrushes, spray cans, lots of energy and massive goodwill’, she says.
“The whole thing just completely caught people’s imaginations, the artists were simply blown away by the reaction,” she said.
“That’s what they’re talking about more than anything else – the amount of people who stopped to talk to them, who shouted up praise as they worked.
“But I always knew that would be the reaction they’d get from people in Waterford. Most of them had never been to the city but a few had done some research and they were aware that it had become slightly forgotten and forlorn in recent years. But they hadn’t expected the amazing response they got from locals.”
From hammerhead sharks painted by London-based Louis Masai on the side of Mullane’s Pub to Kemp’s transformation of the old Art College on New Street or Joe Caslin’s haunting face painted on the side of Olaf’s Church, these Waterford Walls are a sight to behold that will be appreciated by all ages.
Amongst the most commented-on, Edel says, is the former De La Salle Hall on Stephen’s Street created by Eoin O’Connor (Art by Eoin).
“That was actually done in less than an hour, you’d have to see him at work to believe it,” she revealed.
“The project originally involved 25 artists working at 25 sites, many of them concentrated around the New Street and Stephen Street area but one of the artists, Le Bas, finished his work at Jenkins Lane on Saturday evening and then asked could he do another wall so he did another painting next to the De La Salle Hall.”
If you’re planning a trip to view the wonderful sights of Waterford Walls, however, you’d better make it snappy as not all the pieces are permanent installations.
“Initially I just wanted to get them up there”, continued Edel. “I hadn’t given a lot of thought to what would happen after that. I suppose it really depends on the owners of the buildings.
“In the case of the Joe Caslin paintings at Cathedral Square and Olaf Street, they’re done on biodegradable paper so they will come down within two to six weeks. The building in Cathedral Square, the old TSB building, is due to be sold so presumably that will be repainted then.
“And the plan was always to develop the New Street Gardens site eventually. I do think that, once some of the building owners see the works, they won’t want to get rid of them. It would be great if they’re kept.”
She continued: “The initial support for the project came from Waterford Council’s Economic Development Department. The Council were brilliant, not only for funding but also helping us to look at properties and see who owned them. We tried a number of other funding streams but the only one that came through was The Ireland Fund.
“Then we managed to get Colortrend on board to sponsor the paint…that was a huge thing, we just had to go out to their premises on the Inner Ring Road and they’d give us anything we needed. And we must have used thousands and thousands of litres of paint.
“About 20 local businesses also helped us out by sponsoring a mural. Lisa Fitzgerald from the Chamber of Commerce was also a great help with links to local businesses and the family of another of our committee members, Pippa Halley, donated the building on the Mayor’s Walk that we used for our HQ.
“Overall there was huge goodwill out there, which is one of the reasons why we’re hoping to bring the event back again next year. There is huge potential in Waterford and we would hope that this could become a long-term project.”
You can see all the amazing pictures from this event by going into to the Waterford Walls 2015 photo gallery.
