Graffiti Wall Art at Henley Festival

The Wall is the latest in a line of imaginative art projects devised by the Henley Festival with the aim of bringing together top flight professional artists & groups of young people to create one-off and inspirational pieces of large scale art. It is educational urban art project, giving young and disadvantaged students from Chiltern Edge and Bishopswood Schools, John Madejski Academy, Aylesbury College and Stoke Mandeville Hospital the chance to develop their artistic skills working with nationally recognised professional urban graffiti artists Ordu and False from the West Bank Gallery in London.

Last week the Henley Herald went to one of artist led sessions at Chiltern Edge School where 10 teenagers from the school and 5 from Bishopswood School were adding the background to six large one metre square panels which will make up part of The Wall.  At the previous sessions the teenagers have been learning graffiti spray painting and design skills including how to spray their own tags.  The group have had to work together to come up with a message and graphic for their part of The Wall.  They have decided that their message will be ‘Escape to the Edge’ and their graphic will be a bishop on a skateboard with a torch in his hand to represent both of the schools’ badges.

Mandy Beard, Community Projects Manager said, “I am very impressed with the creativity of the teenagers taking park in this project.  It is a great opportunity for them to work with professional artists and to see that graffiti is a real art, using real art skills.  I am looking forward to seeing the very four different art walls at the Henley Festival with four very different messages.”

Sam Sporle, a year 8 student from Chiltern Edge who is hoping to do art at GCSE said, “I didn’t know how to use spray paint to create art before I started this project and I am really looking forward to adding my own tag ‘Splash’ on to The Wall.”