Concrete Canvas: Reimagined
What’s it about?
This project is taking street art out of the city centre and into neighbourhoods across Chelmsford. Local communities will work together with local, regional and international artists to design and create lasting murals that tell local stories. Together, with a Colouring Book, Colouring Competition, Street Party and more, the project will get people talking about how art can make our city more exciting and unique. The long-term plan is to fill Chelmsford with more public art that everyone can enjoy and be part of.
“As an artist that has previously taken part in this immersive street art festival, I am very excited to be involved in bringing this event to life. It really helps to connect community to creativity and showcase local artistic talent whilst embellishing our city.”
Rebecca Carter Local Creative & ex-SPARK! Member
“Chelmsford For You is proud to collaborate with Spark! Together, we're creating a vibrant, inclusive city that celebrates arts, culture, and community. This partnership strengthens our shared commitment to enriching lives, boosting local engagement, and making Chelmsford a thriving, inspiring place for everyone to enjoy for years to come.“
Sara Tupper CEO Chelmsford For You
Helping local artists and young people to learn new skills and ways to turn their talents into jobs
Making our city welcoming, exciting, and full of culture for everyone
Creating public art that is better for the planet
Including Chelmsford’s many voices and cultures in art in public spaces
Helping people feel happier, safer, and more connected to their community
What does success look like?
Watch our reel…
Image credits: Culture Chelmsford, Candy Joyce, Apparan
Our journey so far…
Watch the reel of Chelmsford For You and SPARK! visiting LOOKUP Portsmouth as a research trip…
Image credits: LOOKUP Portsmouth, Chelmsford For You
“I popped along today to view the painting of the new mural which is part of the Concrete Canvas Art Project in South Woodham Ferrers. It was great to learn and practice how to create street art before painting part of the mural with Youth Worker and Street Artist, Scotty from Brave Arts. This mural will then become a legacy of the Concrete Canvas Art Project in South Woodham Ferrers, led by Spark!, The Young Cultural Change Makers of Chelmsford.”
Cllr Donna Eley South Woodham - Elmwood and Woodville Chelmsford City Council
Cllr Donna Eley spray painting at Saltcoats Park, South Woodham Ferrers. Image credit: Candy Joyce
See the STABILO Influencer post by Super Girl Sketches…
Image credit: STABILO Instagram Influencer @supergirlsketches
Watch Chelmsford For You’s Colouring Competition reel…
Image credits: Colouring Competition Participant, Chelmsford For You
Watch our reel of the five SPARK! x Concrete Canvas Colouring Competition winners…
Image credits: Laura, Mishika, Robin, Deacon, Sze, STABILO and Culture Chelmsford
“The best part of project managing Concrete Canvas is watching a blank wall turn into something meaningful. There’s a magic in connecting a community’s story with an artist’s vision, you never know where it will go, but the result is always striking. We captured some of that energy in a colouring book for the Kids Inspire Christmas appeal, turning our previous murals into the colouring book and a community colouring competition.
This year, we’re growing beyond the city centre. It’s given me a chance to get to know new neighbourhoods and help artists and residents create murals that mean something to the people living there. Through our Skill Share Mural, we’re also investing in our artists futures by pairing three local talents with an expert artist.”
Candy Joyce Concrete Canvas: Reimagined Project Manager
Meet our commissioned Mural Artists…
Uwu Studio is collaborating with South Woodham Ferrers Creatives in South Woodham Ferrers.
Lily, AKA Uwu Studio, is an illustrator, working from her studio in Ipswich, Suffolk, with a real passion for colour and pattern. In addition to her decorative work Lily creates bright portraits, often having inspirational women from minority ethnic backgrounds as her subject focus. Her decision to represent women of colour coupled with the need to tell uplifting stories springs from a desire to make inclusive art for the next generation of women like herself.
Miguel H. Cuar is collaborating with Bubu's Community Cafe in Great Baddow.
Miguel is a London-based contemporary artist working across murals and canvas-based works. Combining graffiti skills with acrylic paint, his vibrant, pop-inspired art explores motivation, mental health, nature, and the future. Each piece channels personal experiences into bold, playful visuals that engage viewers and convey meaningful messages about growth and daily life.
Brave Arts is collaborating with Cheerful Chai at Angel Pavilion in Broomfield.
Scott Irving. AKA Scotty Brave, is a Basildon-born Guyanese/British mixed heritage artist. He taught his first ‘graffiti art workshop’ in 1997. After studying for a degree in Graphic design, he established BRAVE_ARTS in 2001 with the simple belief that art, particularly spray-can-art, could fundamentally change people's lives, benefit communities and reinvent places & spaces.
Zabou is mentoring three local Emerging Mural Artists, on a 4-sided skills-share mural in Chelmsford, CM2.
With over a decade of painting experience, Zabou has completed approximately 270 murals across 25 countries worldwide, spanning from Indonesia to the U.S.A and throughout Europe. She paints large-scale, realistic murals, focusing on her subjects' expressions and emotions. Her portraits are in black and white, often set against vibrant backgrounds. She is interested in narratives and finds inspiration in everyday life and the history of the places she paints.
Meet our commissioned Emerging Mural Artists…
Hayley Wells is collaborating with Zabou and two Emerging Artists on a 4-sided mural in Chelmsford, CM2.
Hayley Wells is a Chelmsford-based illustrator with an MA in Children's Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art. Their work has been shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards, featured on television and published worldwide.
Hayley has created window paintings for Chelmsford For You, a mural for Wild Walls in Ipswich, and painted an OpenReach box and CCTV base in two previous years of Concrete Canvas, often incorporating playful and diverse characters in their designs. Hayley is particularly excited to work on a larger scale and to collaborate with three varied, inspiring artists on this project.
Pete Lee is collaborating with Zabou and two Emerging Artists on a 4-sided mural in Chelmsford, CM2.
Pete Lee, A.K.A Zen Art is an artist from Chelmsford specialising in stencils. He started his journey in 2024 and has been honing his skills in locations across London and Essex. He's excited and proud to be part of Concrete Canvas in his home town.
Steve Lawes is collaborating with Zabou and two Emerging Artists on a 4-sided mural in Chelmsford, CM2.
Steve Lawes is a visual artist and researcher whose work explores ancient and medieval British history and contemporary culture. He is an experienced facilitator, having taught over 500 creative sessions. Steve is now exploring ways of taking early medieval artforms such as spirals and knotwork, which were often painted at an almost microscopic level, and blowing them up to the sort of scale that street art can achieve.
Meet our commissioned Concrete Canvas: Reimagined Steet Party Producers…
Local artists and Ignite members Jennifer Flint and Elaine Tribley are excited to collaborate with SPARK! and local young people to co-create and deliver creative workshops to shape inclusive activities as part of the Concrete Canvas celebrations in the city centre this May.
Jennifer Flint is a Chelmsford-based community artist and the founder of Original Creative Work. A graduate of illustration from the Universities of Lincoln and Westminster, she specialises in limited-edition prints and bespoke commissions, including large-scale murals which often celebrate local identity. Jennifer has led several community-led initiatives, most notably the Artists at the Meadows gallery. Beyond her studio practice, she serves as an active Ignite member and a trustee for The Chelmsford Arts and Culture Project, championing the local creative scene.
Elaine Tribley is a Chelmsford-based freelance artist, designer and curator working predominantly in the public realm with projects ranging from large-scale public art to community collaborations. She also works with galleries and schools on educational programmes, designs and creates learning resources, curates exhibitions and designs and makes bespoke festival décor. Elaine also runs Hive Artist Studio, not-for-profit studios situated in a quirky industrial estate just off Beehive Lane in Chelmsford.
Watch Elaine Tribley’s Window Painting Workshop Reel…
Image credits: Elaine Tribley
Watch Elaine Tribley’s Skate Create Workshop Reel…
Image credits: Elaine Tribley
Our next steps…
Apr - May: 4 Concrete Canvas murals across Chelmsford completed with communities and artists
May: Concrete Canvas City Street Party, 3 Community Mural Celebrations & 1 Skills Share Mural Celebration
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the project, please contact us at hello@culturechelmsford.org.uk
Concrete Canvas: Reimagined is produced by Culture Chelmsford and SPARK!, in collaboration with and funded by Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford City Council, Chelmsford College, Chelmsford For You and Arts Council England.
