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Friday 15 May 2015

Sheffield Street Art

I had heard a lot about Sheffield street art and I was not disappointed when I visited Sheffield recently. I spent a couple of hours on a gorgeous Sunday morning mooching around the streets and found plenty of good quality street art. I am no expert on street art but I do have an appreciation of it and admire the quality of art work alongside the fact that some of this art work has had to be produced furtively, without getting caught, making it all the more impressive.

 
I was very keen to view some Phlegm (which is not a sentence you usually catch yourself saying) Phlegm is, of course, one of the best street artists.
According to Wikipedia,
"Phlegm's work features in the urban landscape, and can mostly be seen in run-down and disused spaces. Phlegm creates surreal illustrations to an untold story, weaving a visual narrative that explores the unreal through creatures from his imagination.
Phlegm's storybook-like imagery is half childlike, half menacing,[set in built up cityscapes with castles, turrets and winding stairways. At other times the city itself is the setting for his long limbed half-human, half-woodland creatures. In this dream world a viewer comes across impossible flying machines and complex networks of levers, pulleys and cogs, set beside telescopes, magnifying glasses and zephyrs. Working solely in monochrome, his fine technique and intricate detail can be seen as a curiosity cabinet of the mind. Each drawing forms part of a grand narrative that extends worldwide, in countries including Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, USA, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Spain and Australia."

 
Finding the Rutland Arms, on Brown Street, we were "game on".
 
 

 
                                                   Next, up to Rare & Racy (shop)




Quoted from Phlegm's website,
"Another painting I did while I was up in Sheffield. Rare and Racy is by far my favorite shop in Sheffield. It's been going since 1969 and it's also the very first place I started selling my Zines.

It's future is pretty uncertain. It seems likely that this lovely old block of shops is going to be knocked down to make way for some bland shops or apartments. To see this independent place get replaced by something new and generic seems a sad blow for this part of town."



 
Stay Bright,  designed by Emily Furgot and painted by Peter Barber, is the result of a nationwide contest by Dulux. It references the city’s industrial past, while brightening up a city-centre side  street for the present.
 
 
Then on to find something by Rocket01.
Who better to explain this than the man himself? (Taken from his website)
"In 2012 I was asked to paint a logo on the side of an estate agents on Charles Street in the centre of Sheffield. I went for a short meeting with the guy in charge who told me he wanted the logo painting quite large.
I was more than happy to paint what he wanted, but after giving it some thought I realised I had a great opportunity to paint something better right in the heart of the city.
I gave the guy a quote for the job he wanted and then discussed another idea to paint something of my own choice totally unrelated to his business but for free ! We talked about what I might paint and he agreed, he also agreed to pay for the cherry picker if I paid for the paint. It was a done deal !
I got a smooth concrete dream wall in the centre of the city ....
He got a mural on the side of his premises that gets his business more attention than a logo would have done !"
 
 
The sheer scale of this piece was incredible!
 
Just round the corner, on Arundel Street was another piece of art created by Rocket01.
 

"Neil Armstrong did something amazing, he was the first man to walk on the moon, if there was ever a man to champion the spirit of mankind, he was that man". (Rocket01)
 
 
 
 
      Howard Hotel by Faunographic, who is the partner of Rocket01, incidentally.

 
The rest of the pieces are anonymous to me. Maybe a street art expert could inform me?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ah, I lied - this one appears to be by Meth.
 
 
 

There is plenty more to see. I need another visit. Sheffield is ace!
 

Train Graveyard

The Midland Station, Butterley seems, on first entering, the sort of place that anorak-clad train spotters, clutching notebooks and a thermos of tea might get excited over - and in part, it is. However, if you venture down a path alongside the museum, you come to the "train graveyard" which was the part that interested me and would probably send the anoraks into mild hysteria at the sight of the rusting, rotting locomotives and carriages! I came here with a train spotting photography pal. He was in his element in this part . . .

 
 
It's like stepping back in time . . .
 
 
Indeed, their website boasts that . . .
“There’s plenty to see and do for all of the family, including a wonderful train ride across Butterley and into our bordering Derbyshire countryside.”
 
On the midweek day that we visited, there were no trains running and no other visitors for that matter, which suited me just fine.
 
 
 It all looks quite respectable at this point . . .
 
 
 
There are plenty of volunteers around this part of the railway, lovingly tending to the trains.
 
 
 
 
                                                            Then it gets interesting . . .


Along the path to Swanwick Junction you can spot trains, looking almost like they have been trapped and ensnared by nature!
 
 
Peeling paint, rust and nature fighting back reigns . . .
 

The photos can speak for themselves . . . years of neglect are in evidence . . . it was my turn to be in my element!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We spent quite some time walking around and could easily have spent longer but time was pressing. It's not often that my train spotting pal and myself can achieve an equal amount of pleasure from a train-based photo shoot but this one fits the bill! Shame it was such a drive to get there, otherwise I would be back in a flash!