Exhibition opens as Upfest enters its second weekend
Europe’s biggest street art festival has returned to South Bristol
An art exhibition opens at Saint Paul’s Church today as Upfest Presents enters its second weekend.
Europe’s biggest street art festival has returned to South Bristol after being cancelled in 2023.
Instead of the usual weekend celebration, the festival is running for two weeks between 17th May and 2nd June.
Artwork will be on show at The Crypt at Saint Paul’s Church in Southville this weekend.
The exhibition features pieces by Mau Mau, Audrey Kawasaki, and Inkie.
Founded by a small group of artists in 2008, Upfest has grown with around 400 artists taking part in 2022.
This year 100 artists are involved, with many travelling from around the world to paint on the streets of BS3.
The festival is famous for the murals painted across Bedminster, but this year there are also free workshops, street art tours, and exhibitions taking place.
Upfest’s co-founder Steve Hayles said: “We’re focused as a street art festival where artists from all different backgrounds and all different genres are creating public artwork on the streets.”
Muralist and oil painter Jacqui Butterworth is painting at Upfest for the first time.
“I applied and was lucky enough to be chosen. I’ve been wanting to paint a mural over here for a while and this was a great opportunity,” she said.
Jacqui is from Sydney but has been living in London for the last six months.
This is her first time painting her own work, as opposed to a commercial piece, on a wall: “There’s just something special about putting your own work on a wall – work that I would normally only do on an oil painting and put in a gallery, and not everyone would see it.”
As well as painting on the wall by North Street Standard, she also has an oil painting on show at The Crypt.
Upfest is backed by Arts Council England. It is free for artists to apply and take part, and their materials are paid for by the festival.
One of Steve Hayles’ highlights is the Scale Up Mentoring Programme.
Upfest has paired five artists who haven’t painted murals before with established street artists to help them ‘scale up’ their artwork.
These artists will be painting at the Tobacco Factory on the 1st and 2nd June.