Paint
Jam
IV
15-16 August
Visit Wrexham was tipped off on a Friday lunchtime to go down to the basement levels of Eagle’s Meadow car park where something special was starting. As we approached in the low-level light during the height of an August heatwave, the unmistakable aerosol paint fumes permeated the air ever so slightly, and we knew this is where something special was happening.
Over 25 artists from all over the UK had descended into town for the weekend to continue a special project of brightening up the darkest walls in one of the deepest darkest underground carparks in Wrexham.
We first met up with Kryme from Dundee who had done the redeye just that morning to get down in time for the kick-off, and despite the long journey he was fully charged and excited about the gathering and the weekend that lay ahead. The rest of the artists were also beginning to arrive around the same time as we met up with some for a brief chat about their projects. Everyone we met had amazing back stories and united in their ambition to brighten up urban places with some unique efforts and pieces, inspired by personal ideas and stories to them. Many of them regularly toured the UK working on other paint jams and we felt with no-one else around it was a privilege to share some time one-on-one with the artists. We got a sneak peek of their design process and plans that they had in mind for the weekend long installation.
Going up a level we then met Andy ‘Dime One’ Birch – a self-confessed ‘graffiti art geek’ who is based here in North Wales and this being his fourth instalment of the Wrexham Paint Jam, discovered that this is very much his passion and project and was the lead artist. Andy explained he had decades of works to his name dotted all over Wrexham and North Wales.
Andy shared with us the event wouldn’t be possible without the support of Rachel and the team who run Avant Cymru /The Lab based upstairs and the work that they do curating the content and planning the event.
