Art in unusual places… mural painting and art exhibition for Basingstoke Festival

During one scorching weekend in June, Sian Storey turned a space in Basingstoke’s Festival Place into her artist’s studio. The pop-up event for the Basingstoke Festival saw Sian painting a large mural of a fox and hummingbirds, as well as holding an exhibition of 30 original paintings. The public were free to come and watch the mural coming to life, as well as browse paintings and prints by the Basingstoke-based artist. The exciting event created a buzz in the town, with the art lovers wowed by the scale and vibrancy of Sian’s beautiful painting.

In 30 seconds, watch the mural painting timelapse

Hampshire artist Sian Storey will be painting the town red – and blue, pink and green – as shoppers are invited to discover art in unusual places at Festival Place in Basingstoke over the weekend of June 29 and 30.

The shopping centre has invited Sian to turn a space on its lower level into her own personal artist’s studio as part of this year’s Basingstoke Festival, which is designed to showcase the best of the arts locally, nationally and internationally.

Known for her beautiful nature-inspired paintings, Sian Storey will use the Festival Place space to create a stunning large-scale mural and host an exhibition of her colourful prints and paintings.

Sian’s eye-catching work features birds, wildlife and women, and is inspired by her travels.

Sian said: “I’m excited to be involved with the Basingstoke Festival this year, and I’m grateful to Festival Place for offering me a large blank wall to paint!

“It’s going to be a colourful and creative weekend, as I’ll be painting a nature-themed mural filled with birds and other beautiful creatures.

“There will also be an exhibition of my newest paintings, and I’ll be debuting some brand new pieces.”

Sian has also exhibited regularly in THAT Gallery, an artist-led gallery which has been ‘popping up’ in Festival Place since 2014.

Neil Churchill, Centre Director at Festival Place, said: “We look forward to welcoming Sian to Festival Place as part of the Basingstoke Festival. It will be fascinating to watch her creating her beautiful art in one of our spaces, and we can’t wait to see the end result.”

Basingstoke Festival runs from Friday, June 21, until Sunday, July 7, and Sian Storey will be at Festival Place over the weekend of June 29 and 30, on the lower level opposite Fat Face