There’s not much to smile about when on your way to work, college or the shops in winter, the start of the year does tend to breed a ‘head down, let’s battle through’ attitude.
Anything that springs a smile in January or February deserves to be lauded, anything that makes you stop and appreciate the community in which you live deserves to be applauded. That’s why CommunityAd were keen to dedicate column inches to the artists who have brightened up so many pedestrian journeys with their vibrant, majestic mural.
One of those talented artists responsible for brightening up a commute or two is 17-year-old Art & Design student Jess Streader. Having joined the Canterbury College course in September 2021 Jess is enjoying “learning about various artists and using different mediums to create my work” as well as the social aspect of being a college student.
CommunityAd had the pleasure of asking the artist about the Canterbury creation, the majestic mural.
The street mural you’ve all created is so good, can you tell our readers a bit about it?
Our group worked together with the artist Freyja Crow who is local to Kent. We were all asked to design different parts and they were merged together and the mural was created! Then along with Freyja Crow we painted it over a few weeks to create what you see now.
The colours are vibrant and are ‘putting smiles on faces’ around the city but there’s a meaning to the mural isn’t there, can you tell us what it is?
The street art we created was designed to highlight the battle against climate change and the impact we all have on the environment.
Jess’s mother Hayley is as you can imagine extremely proud of her daughter’s talents, posting the pictures onto Facebook the response have been wildly positive. “The reactions have been really positive online. I’m really proud of Jess and the whole group at college, they worked hard to paint some street art that everyone in the community can enjoy.” We asked Hayley:
Why do you think it’s so beneficial for young people developing especially to express themselves creatively?
Expressing themselves artistically has always been a big part of the way I have brought up my children. Creativity promotes self-expression, gives them new ways of thinking, problem solving skills, develops self-confidence and a sense of achievement.
Having lived in the city all her life Hayley, in her own words is “very patriotic about the city”. Both in reality and online as she admins the Facebook group called Real Canterbury Residents Group “which was started to try and build a local online community, it has done this successfully and has really highlighted to me what a diverse city Canterbury is, managing to keep a real close friendly feel. It’s also a really beautiful city to live in and art like this will only make the city shine brighter”.