Sheffield Street Art: Back of Niche

From the main kitchen window at work, I get to see a front seat view of this old and derelict building, only one of the many, that are still around Sheffield, allowed to rot and decay, while the city waits for its share of the rumoured strong economic growth that is already happening in London, just two hours away by train but it might as well be in another country. Not that we are complaining.

This particular building is a favourite amongst the youth, bored with the long summer holidays at home, that they would commence here and turn it into a party place complete with loud music and dancing, in the middle of the day that it can be heard from our desks just across the road. It's a perfect spot too, inside is a graffiti gallery of some of Sheffield's more renowned artists mixed in with just plain vandalism work.

Despite the close proximity to my workplace, that orange building with a church tower at the back (yes we are in an rather arty and possibly dodgy district in Sheffield), I have never been close enough to appreciate the splashes of colours along the walls but on our July holiday, we managed to tick it off our "To Do List in Sheffield".

Care and caution is of course suggested when you plan on going inside a rundown building as your insurance will not pay up for self-inflicted incidents so John was very watchful of my every move that I didn't really manage to take as much photos as I would have hoped for. But the image of a building collapsing in my mind was enough to get me out of there quickly, but not quick enough for a few snaps!



Then on the street at the back of the old Niche night club, along a street called Sylvester Gardens (which doesn't look like one but could be for the sort of people who are most likely to frequent it), there are more artworks.

There is an artwork by Phlegm amongst these colours and John's favourite is just below it. It is in reference of course to his line of work (as a nurse who treats people who occasionally finds themselves with an unwanted infection!). Few street arts carry with it political messages, unlike the ones we've seen in other European cities, but occasionally these messages do pop-up and political figures (like Dave below) become part of the street art scene.
This is another photo of the area where these art works are taken. The 'Eye' image is part of another blog.

For more Sheffield street art from this blog, just select 'Sheffield Street Art' from the labels.

Sheffield Street Art Walk

We had another week off in July and because we didn't book to go anywhere out of town, we decided to do another walk around Sheffield. Just because you've lived here all your life (that's John) or made the city your home in the last four years (that's me) doesn't mean you know it by heart. There will always be hidden corners that begs to be explored and sometimes, where you don't expect to, you stumble upon some things that are special.

So on Monday morning, after we packed our little lad off to nursery (he loves it there, promise!), we went on our way to the city centre in pursuit of Sheffield's now renowned street art works fronted by international graffiti artists with the names of Phlegm, Kid Acne, Faunagraphic and Rocket01 amongst many others who have made this city their home and its streets their art gallery.

We started off at Howard Street, easily accessible from the train station or from the tram. Here we saw a wall-sized installation of Harry Brearley, the man who discovered stainless steel. The mural was commissioned by Marketing Sheffield and is a work of Faunagraphic to celebrate the centenary of the discovery and to raise awareness of the work that he has done, with its legacy still felt in this day and age.

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Our next stop was the HUBS, Sheffield Hallam University's student union building where a wall has been painted with murals created by its students and to the front is a mural representation of the city complete with the graffiti works of Kid Acne and Phlegm, two of the city's most renowned.
At the back of the HUBS in Charles Street is a wall mural of David Attenborough beside a car park leading to the Science Park, a fitting place for Rocket01's work. It was apparently a commissioned work he undertook for free if he was allowed to choose his own subject.

There is more of Rocket01 and Faunagraphic's work to be seen around this area. We took a coffee break inside Tamper Coffee in Eyre Lane and enjoyed the wall mural by Faunagraphic while sipping a much-needed cup of coffee.

Refreshments done, we walked along the side of the coffee shop, at Brown Lane where we saw a small mural of Neil Armstrong also by Rocket01. Around the area are works of other artists.

The foxy image above is found along Arundel Lane and is a collaboration between Malarky, EMA and Kid Acne. At the bottom of the road, to the left we walked down to take a snap of the work by EMA for Access Space on top of Sidney Street. In the nearby Yorkshire Artspace Society Building, these happy paste-ups can also be seen.
Right across, at the Rutland Arms is a work by Phlegm which he calls 'Spring Sun'. Worth noting the older original coloured work at the back of the building in contrast to the stick thin figures along the wall of Brown Street that is now his signature.

Along Sydney Street we went inside APG Works to take a snap of a collaborative work between EMA, Kid Acne and Phlegm. It was here that we noted how Phlegm has managed to include every part of the space available in his artwork, turning electrical boxes into a castle. It's definitely worth a check!
At Matilda Street, there is an art collaboration in front of the Matilda Tavern by EMA, Kid Acne and Malarky. We also found a couple of stabby women there, a paste-up work and the other a mural by Kid Acne.

Sydney Street used to have other works of Kid Acne and Phlegm but they are now gone, a sad reminder of the shortness of the life of a street art. But there are new things that keep on popping up and the dilapidated building at the back of the old Niche night club is still a street artists' favourite. There will be a separate blog for this.
Opposite the building, on the wall of what was Russell Bros (Limited) is Einstein by Rocket01.
At the intersection between Sylvester Street and Arundel Street is a teary eye wrapped in flora and fauna, a collaboration between Faunagraphic and Rocket01.

The rest of the walk takes up London Road, then back to Eyre Street and then Division Street,which will be posted in separate blogs!