Art on the Street – Thistle Street event taking place on Bank Holiday Monday

Next Monday Thistle Street will be closed off to traffic and a day long art event, Art on the Street, will take place.

Those visiting the street will have to do so on foot and are invited to patronise the many restaurants and bars on offer there after taking part in the art event.

Chris Rutterford (left) and his huge murals will be part of Art on the Street

This interactive initiative is for all the family and you are invited to come along, watch and get involved.

Anjila Wilson the award winning artist will need your help to create a piece of work for an exhibition which is to be staged at Edinburgh Palette on London Road in July. She is interested in Eastern philosophies and uses local and upcycled materials in her art. Anjila said : “Material will be placed securely on the ground for the public to walk, draw or write on, or simply create marks which allows me to be the translator, shifting our journey to a language of imagery.”

Scottish mural painter Chris Rutterford is known for his large scale paintings some of which have never been displayed in Edinburgh before. Now he will use them to adorn the walls alongside Thistle Street. At the same time he will use a large stencil and get children to help him create a border of rampant unicorn and lions in a series of chalk Celtic shields along the length of the street. Chris said : “It will only be a temporary artwork so it will soon wash away, but for one day only, I’m super excited to see how big the team can get. As a dad myself, I know that for a day to be fun the whole family need to be engaged. When the organisers asked me to appear I jumped at the chance as Thistle Street is the ideal venue to show my art, and it’s big… which is good because some of the murals I’m showing are over twenty metres long.”

There will also be music and dance images and sculptures used by in_my_presence to communicate ideas of time and duration. Did you know that the first Madame Tussaud’s was in Thistle Street at the beginning of the 19th century?

Art in the Street is being organised by a group of residents with the support of local businesses and the Thistle Street Association.

Monday 7 May 2018 from 12 noon.