Murals transform the Waterford cityscape with vivid colour and creativity
Sean Crabgle, at Thomas Street Pocket Park for Waterford Walls workshop. Photo: Joe Evans
Waterford Walls, Ireland’s largest street art festival, returned to the city from August 8 to 17, and was a great success.
An electric line-up of 34 world-class artists descended on the streets to transform walls across the city over 10 days of live mural painting, music, art trails and community events.
International highlights included Rocket01 (UK), Nerone (France) and KMG (Scotland), whose large-scale murals joined Waterford’s growing collection of world-renowned street art.
A brand-new feature this year introduced a citywide art trails led by stencil artist Dotmasters (UK) and tile installation artist Blackdoors (France), offering festival-goers a unique way to explore hidden corners of Waterford through playful, smaller-scale interventions.
The Festival Hub created the beating heart of the festival, hosting live music, craft beer courtesy of Number 21, and a rotating selection of local food trucks, creating a vibrant gathering point for artists, locals, and visitors alike.
Other programme highlights included the Street Party at Pocket Park, on Saturday August 16, which saw Thomas Street come alive with an open-air celebration of street culture.
Ahead of the event Festival Director, Gabe McGuinness, said: “Each year, Waterford Walls brings new energy, colour, and conversation to the city. [This year] is no different; with world-class talent, new interactive experiences, and more ways than ever to connect with the art and the artists."
Meanwhile, the new section of Greenway in the Ferrybank area of Waterford and South Kilkenny opens up it will also offer up more than just attraction for users as work has been ongoing on a fantastic new mural along the Ferrybank stretch and residents in the area are getting excited as the project nears completion.
Mark McGarry and the team at Street Art Ink received a lot of praise recently from within the area for their hard work in bringing colour and life to that section of the South East Greenway.
The mural was singled out for praise on the Ferrybank area's social media page where it was acknowledged as 'already transforming the space'.
The mural depicts local heritage and community spirit and is depicted in bright, vivid colours.
Photos on the Ferrybank Community Newsletter Facebook page presented a great taster of what's in store when the Greenway opens up.
It's understood the work on the mural will be completed imminently and in plenty of time before the opening of that section which will ultimately form part of the greenway running all the way from Waterford to New Ross in County Wexford.
The Waterford Walls was supported by Waterford City and County Council, The Arts Council, and Creative Ireland and headline sponsors this year included Fitzgerald Power, Fewer Harrington, Colourtrend, and Montana Cans.
