International Artists Descend on Rochdale for Mural Festival

Artwork By AYLO

In honour of Rochdale being crowned the winning Town of Culture, this September saw 10 International artists descend on the Greater Manchester suburb for a special mural festival.

The vision of lead artist and curator, Hayley Garner aka AYLO, we had the pleasure of catching up with the lady herself to what it has been like bringing this colourful canvas to life.

How has preparation been going for this weekend? 

Preparation's going well. We're up and running. We've got all the artists bar one here now.

Insane51 arrives today and he'll be starting painting probably this afternoon, this evening. But yeah, it's going really well. Everything's in full flow.

Tell us a little bit about the original vision and the stories you wanted to tell through the power of art?

I've spent the last 12 years traveling the world, painting at various mural festivals in different towns and cities. And I wanted to bring some of that back to my hometown. We did it in 2019, the idea to kind of keep that happening.

But then obviously, with COVID and things, things slowed down. And then this year with Rochdale winning Town of Culture, it just seemed right. It seemed the right time to bring it back again.

From my journey, I've met so many amazing artists. And now I've got the pleasure of inviting them to come and paint here. And luckily, they all said yes. I mean, I've got some of the best artists in the world. The lineup at this festival is incredible. We've got Insane51 from Greece.

We've got Smug1 from Australia. We've had Onur from Switzerland. There's Lei Mai, a local artist. Myself, a local artist, plus Jamie Buckley so  there's a real good mix of people, all different styles, all bringing stories of Rochdale to life through large muralism.

Artwork By Rhian Kempadoo-Millar

So how did you go about deciding who to invite? 

To be honest, it's a difficult thing organizing a mural festival. There's a lot of moving parts.

One of the main things for me was to get artists that I trusted, artists that are friends of mine, who I know can handle big walls, can handle the rain, because we get a lot of that in Rochdale. I wanted to invite people whose  work I look up to and I respect. And these artists, they've inspired me and my journey in large muralism. They're basically like artists that I've fangirled over haha.  I wanted to bring different styles to Rochdale as well. It wasn't about just sticking to the same.

There's people here that are painting purely with paintbrushes. There's other people that are doing more interactive kind of murals like Insane51’s, which is 3D based, which is two images in one, which is amazing if you get a chance to see it. There's Smug1, who's probably one of the best, if not the best, large scale portrait painter.

And then there's Onur, who has  a very classical style that he uses. It looks like an oil painting on the wall, which is unusual to see. So big, elevated and massive buildings.

Then Epod as well. He's a wizard with a spray can. So there's a lot of different things and different techniques and different styles to the artwork. I wanted it to look like an outdoor gallery, where you can walk around and see different things. There's something for everybody. 

Artwork By Epod

Do you think it's helped you to see art differently to what you may have thought of before? 

To be honest, because I've painted a lot of festivals, I've seen kind of what goes into the work, and I've curated a lot of murals and done the logistical side of muralism for a long time. I think you forget what goes on in the background, how much work is in the design, how much work the artist does before they even pen to paper and design it, the research they do. There's a whole lot more than the final product.

It all takes time. And that comes from years of time spent doing it to get good at all the stages, to create the work at this sort of stage. I guess in terms of how it's made me change my opinion on art, it's made me realise more how important it is to put art in public spaces. 

Quite often art can feel a bit overwhelming when it's in a white box room and you're supposed to have an IQ of a million to understand what you're talking about. Whereas street art is boundless, anyone can appreciate it and they can take what they want from it.

There's often a story there that the artists are intending to get across but ultimately you can stand in front of that piece and you can take whatever you want from it. It's not trying to feed you anything, it's not trying to sell you anything, it's just putting colour into spaces and hopefully making these public spaces full of conversation and making people think. It's important to do that, especially in small towns because cities get it all the time. 

 I hear it all the time, I'm just standing by my mural now and there's people walking past saying, ‘oh Rochdale needs more of this’, which is nice. They don't know I've painted it, I'm just stood here slyly listening. 

Artwork By Insane51

With this being based in Rochdale and you've chosen, from what I understand, you've chosen 10 town centre buildings. Tell us a little bit about the buildings you wanted to be part of the important Rochdale story?

Well I think to be honest, you don't get what you want. There's a lot of things that need to fall into place. So one, the building owner needs to be up for it and understand what public art is and realise that it's not a commission for them to kind of dictate in any way.

 These artists are coming and working on a very brief brief, which is ideas that we gave them around Rochdale and stories and research. But it wasn't so much that we wanted these walls, it was finding a bunch of walls and then finding the artists that would work best on them.

When you're curating something you want to make sure it isn't jarring, it doesn't stand out. For instance, Smug's painting on a brick wall, quite an old building, and he's leaving the brick behind the character he's painting. So now the building is becoming part of the artwork, which is really beautiful.

Onu's work  looks like it's an oil painting because of the wall that it's on. So it's a case of finding the wall then matching the artist to it.  It wasn't the case of like, I want that wall, we're going to get it. I wish it was that easy. I wish everyone would say yes.

Whether you're a local or whether you're a new person visiting Rochdale, how's the best way to embrace the magic and spirit of the festival? 

Well, at the moment the artists are all working, so it's nice to come and see these murals actually in the process, because you don't often get to see that. We're a bit like ships in the night. You never catch us in the doing, so it's interesting to watch. But then this is going to carry on now until 13th and the 14th September when  there's going to be a bit of a party.

We've got some demonstrations like skateboarding, BMX, etc.  We've got some DMC DJs playing, b-boys. You know, there's a whole lot of things to do for people, and there's also a stencil workshops for kids to get involved in.

There's a lot to do, but I'd just say come to Rochdale, have a look around, have a little walk around. You can pick up maps in the town hall, and most of the shops here have on their counters, and you can follow the map and see the murals from the 2019 festival and from this one that's happening now. 

When you reflect on the initial idea to where the journey has taken you now, what makes you smile? 

To be honest, I think it's the team of people that I've got around us, including the artists and the people I've been involved with. Everyone came together and really just pulled it all out the bag. Everything's on point, the weather's holding up.

I'm just happy. It's been a long time in the planning. There's a lot of moving parts, a lot of the artists have come here when they've got other opportunities, and it's just been a really enjoyable, non-stressful process so far.

From the council right through to the volunteers that are helping out, everybody's been amazing. There's no way in this world that I could have ever done this on my own without them, so I'm most thankful for that

Artwork By SecaOne

Well I wish you all the best, Hayley. What's the next chapter look like for you? 

I'm hoping that this is successful enough that we can keep some sort of legacy of it going and hopefully maybe do more festivals in the future. I'm hoping to have more of a presence as an artist in Rochdale because quite a lot of my work is elsewhere and in different countries and towns and up and down everywhere, whereas it's nice to see how this is being received.

Now, I'd like to stick around more and do more for Rochdale and the next generation of people who are going to be painting on walls. 

Looking for some inspiration? Make sure you head to Rochdale to witness these stunning collections of art for yourself. Find out more at www.rochdale.gov.uk/TownOfCulture 

Artwork By smug