Liverpool street artist John Culshaw is holding free workshops to help people create their own murals

Liverpool street artist John Culshaw is holding a series of free workshops showing people tips and tricks to help them create their own murals.

John Culshaw is behind some of the city’s best-known public artworks including one dedicated to Nelson Mandela in L8 and the huge bright blue Liver Bird in the Baltic Triangle.

His latest project is in Dovecot, in collaboration with Dreamkeeping Society who are running creative community workshops asking local residents to share their dreams.

Their thoughts and ideas will be used as the basis for a mural by John on the outside of Dovecot Multi-Activity Centre.

As part of a commission by Culture Liverpool, alongside Dreamkeeping Society’s activities, John will be holding weekly free sessions showing how he goes about making his giant murals.

He explains: “Originally, I was supposed to be just listening to people and taking notes, getting inspiration for what to include in my design. But I talked to Izzie and Phoebe at Dreamkeeping Society and we thought it would be nice if we could involve the community in some element of creating a mural as well.

“I asked Izzie if I could use one of the tables to let people have a bit more of a creative input so in the first two weeks I’ll be showing people how I do things, doing drawings and sketches and getting their creative juices flowing a bit.

“I’ll give them some tips on how to bring on their designs and work towards a wall and then in the final workshop I’ll have all the paint and I’ll show them some can control and how scale up so what you see on the page is the same as it is on the wall.”

The initial workshops will lead up to an opportunity for residents to create their own mural at MAC Dovecot.

“In a few weeks’ time, when the weather is a bit better and the days get longer, we will be painting a wall which everybody can be involved in,” adds John. “I’ll be painting my mural during the second week in April, so we’ll probably do the final workshop towards mid-April.

“The idea is that the workshops will give people a head start so when they do get to paint on the wall, they’ll be more confident.”

As a self-taught artist himself, John says mural work can be simpler than people think once the techniques are explained.

“I always enjoyed drawing and when my son was born, I decided to have a go at painting a Spiderman on his bedroom wall. It went a lot better than I thought, from that friends and family asked and it just grew from there.

“I’ve learnt along the way from people who are a lot better than me, because with things like colour tones you can’t get it straight away by yourself, you need someone to show you or at least watch how they do it. 

“Most people just think it’s impossible for them to do themselves because they don’t know where to start, especially with scaling up, but it’s nowhere near as difficult as you’d think so it’s great to be able to show that.

“If they’ve got an interest and want to try, this is a great jumping off spot – anyone who enjoys art or drawing or painting will find out how fun it is painting on a large scale and how much easier it is than they thought it would be.”

John’s free street art sessions are part of Dreamkeeping Society’s workshops for all ages at Dovecot Multi-Activity Centre on Back Dovecot Place on Thursdays, February 27 & March 6, 4.30pm-6.30pm.

There’s no need to book and all materials will be provided.

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