Art / Street Art
A new mural collective is encouraging people to get painting
A new community of womxn mural painters are helping each other with all things mural related.
A group welcoming both experienced wall painters, and those who are interested to start their first wall, Bristol Womxn Mural Collective organises DIY paint days to encourage more people to go out and paint.
Started by Rosa ter Kuile, an artist who works under the name RTIIIKA, she is an artist working in mural art, illustration and performance and describes her work as a “celebration of human form, colour, queerness and fun”.
is needed now More than ever
Rosa ter Kuile founded the collective in summer 2019
The mural painting meetups are organised through a Facebook group, and monthly paint days are a chance for both new and seasoned artists to bring their own paints and try out new ideas and techniques.
In an attempt to connect female and non-binary artists (using ‘womxn’ instead of ‘women’ to encompass all non-male people), the aim of the group is to encourage womxn to take up more space in a largely male dominated street art scene.
“It can be intimidating to go out and paint by yourself,” explains Rosa. “I found myself reaching out to other local womxn artists, asking them for advice on starting out. The more I talked to others, the more I realised I wasn’t the only one who had questions.”
The group hopes to help more female and non-binary mural painters get to know each other
Rosa is self-taught and admits that starting a mural can be daunting – even though her highlights this year include working on large campaigns such as creating artwork for Nike Women’s Football.
She says: “There’s no guidebook that can tell you what type of paints to use, how to weather-proof work, where to rent scaffolding or how much to charge for commercial murals.”
Members can share their work, ask for advice and provide feedback to others on the paint days and in the Facebook group, and Rosa hopes to work with Upfest and find partners to sponsor materials for the DIY paint days in the future.
In a male dominated street art scene, the collective helps womxn take up more space
“Forming the Bristol Womxn Mural Collective is my way to connect, support and ultimately encourage more womxn to take up space,” says Rosa.
Follow Rosa @rtiiika, follow Bristol Womxn Mural Collective @bwmcollective and join the Facebook group by searching Bristol Womxn Mural Collective
Read more: New community mural painted in Withywood
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