spring fling

This article is a rural version of the Banksy approach to making us think again about our built environment. It tells us:

A farmer is taking part in a unique art project in Dumfries and Galloway. Huge murals have appeared on houses, barns and even a disused electricity sub-station as part of the Spring Fling Rural Mural (SFRM) project being run by Spring Fling.

The initiative – led by artists Amy Whiten and Ali Wyllie, managers at the Glasgow-based arts organisation Recoat – got responses from across south west Scotland when it invited people to offer buildings or other items to be painted. Stage one saw the transformation of a pottery, a house, an old sub-station and three agricultural buildings.

Among them is a large corrugated iron hay shed at East Knockbrex Farm near Newton Stewart. Owner Iain Service says: “I have a real sentimental attachment to this barn, it’s been here all my life and I remember stacking the hay in there on hot summer days when I was a boy. But it had reached the end of its life and I was about to knock it down when I heard of Rural Mural.

“I thought this would be a great way to give it a big send off, a real final party. I’ve encouraged the artists to be as bold and bright as they want so the old hayshed can really say something – make a big statement – before it finally goes. It’s also a bit of a local landmark, so I hope it will give drivers a bit of fun when they see it from the road.”