Mill 24 part 1 - All the Hard Work Before the Night

Above, Mill 24 handbook and map handed out at reception in a little goodie bag.

Over 2 weeks ago, I travelled up North to paint two big murals for Mill 24, a 24 hour week-end exhibtion full of up and coming artists art, videos and performances at the 5 storey Islington Mill in Manchester. I post here some photos of the event with a proper write-up of my experiences to come next !

All photographs courtesy of Valerie Pezeron.

When I arrived earlier in the week prior to the event, I had already figured I would give myself two days to do each mural. I knew I was being given the main bar/dancefloor walls to play with, but I was quite impressed to see how big that space was! So I took photos to give a 180 degree impression of the room.

 That's one of my walls before I started anything.

That's the 1st sketch up before painting begins. That was rather a challenge working on that scale!

 There is one shot missing as I forgot to take picture of the stage area though. But the here is half of the bar...
I painted the first mural all by myself the first two days and then went back to London to teach at uni on the Friday. That schedule was tough so I enrolled my boyfriend as artist assistant for the week-end- I assumed that years of modelmaking was training enough and, boy, was I right, he was of tremendous help! We travelled again to Manchester on the bus for 5 hours in order to paint during Mill 24 on Saturday and Sunday.

The Mill 24 crew of curators sorting out their handprinted labour of love. Womnderful people, I tell thee- I'm moving to Manchester at once!

The McWhippy van and crew having a well deserved rest after a not so smooth ride on that thing all the way from London. Very resourcefull folks, for sure!

The courtyard at Mill 24 before the crowd invades the premises and the fun begins.