Wood Street Walls collaborates again with Maser to repaint iconic East London Music venue to support Ukraine
- Maser’s “Together for Ukraine” artwork the first in UK that allows public to donate by scanning art with smartphone.
- Appeal to paint every city and town blue and yellow in the UK to show support for Ukraine via www.paintforukraine.co.uk.
- First piece appeared in East London in 2017 as part of the Paint Your London street art festival.
A new piece of street art that measure over 80 metres in length and designed by renowned street artist Maser allows the public to donate to Ukraine by simply pointing their smartphone at the piece.
The piece is the first of many set to appear in the UK with organisers urging those up and down the country to paint “every city and town blue and yellow” to show unity with Ukraine and drive the humanitarian appeal.
Wood Street Walls has made an initial £4,000 available to any organisations and school groups looking to join the campaign through www.paintforukraine.co.uk.
The piece – created using recycled paint delivered from landfill – can be scanned using the ‘Smartify’ app. Those who scan the piece are taken to a page where they can purchase a limited edition print from Maser or make a donation directly to Play Your Part for Ukraine.
“Together with Ukraine” appears on a former Walthamstow music venue, The Standard, now owned by Scape who will be redeveloping the site later this year to deliver a new venue and shared living accommodation, supporters of this project. The venue is steeped in history having played host to an eclectic host of artists from Suzi Quatro to Kula Shaker, Harry Enfield and Jack Dee.
The situation in Ukraine has given everyone pause for thought - Together for Ukraine is an artwork which I hope will contribute to the relief effort to helping the country of Ukraine in their ongoing fight for freedom. I am delighted to collaborate with Wood Street Walls by painting The Standard in Walthamstow again, but most importantly producing a charity artwork to raise funds as part of Andriy Shevchenko's Play Your Part for Ukraine campaign. The five charities are delivering critical work in a time where Ukrainians need it most.Maser, Artist
We are committed to doing everything we can to help the people of Ukraine during this terrible conflict. As a business Scape are working with a number of charities including exploring opportunities to provide accommodation for refugees coming to the UK. The artwork at The Standard site is a symbol of our solidarity with the people of the Ukraine and we hope will help to deliver much needed funds in this time of need.Nigel Taee, Founder and Chairman of Scape
Wood Street Walls are thankful to collaborate with Maser with the support of Scape and have the building play a key part in its final act before coming down. We hope that the sales from will go to much needed support to Ukranians suffering at the hands of this unjust and senseless war.Mark Clack, Co-Founder of Wood Street Walls
Maser truly embodies the centric spirit of contemporary visual art in Ireland today. Having created artwork since 1995, over the last 25 years, Maser has earned much respect professionally and has generated a large and dedicated following both in Ireland and Internationally - through his seamlessly imaginative and unique graphic style.
Maser’s unique, artistic style draws upon numerous influences including optical and mid-century art, and his paintings are regularly complemented with bold colours, pattern and text. He is ambitious and is unafraid to experiment with any artistic format. Through his use of contrasting colours and flowing patterns, Maser’s work offers the viewer an opportunity to become fully immersed in an almost hypnotic state.
In addition to his artistic practice, in 2018, Maser established Atelier Maser a creative studio and gallery space located in the heart of Dublin city, in Ireland. The space is dedicated to emerging visual artists and boasts an exciting programme of exhibitions. Alongside its unique exhibition programme, Atelier Maser also hosts regular wellness events, such as meditation and yoga - to promote wellbeing and learning within the Irish urban landscape.
Wood Street Walls are a London based organisation working to empower local communities and artists in public space. Together with their in-house team of artists and creative professionals they curate walls and coordinate events and run two artist workspaces in Walthamstow, London. Since their formation over 5 years ago, they have helped facilitate and curate over 100 murals in the East London area and use the power of art and creativity and highlight key social issues and causes that affect London and the UK.
Support the millions of innocent people caught up in the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. Join the movement started by footballer Andriy Shevchenko and help end the humanitarian crisis unfolding across Europe. #PlayYourPart
For maximum impact, the donation you give will be distributed equally between five leading nonprofit organisations working right now in Ukraine and the surrounding areas:
Scape are city living specialists with properties around the world. Located in some of the world’s leading cities, Scape has properties in London, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Dublin, with Boston and San Jose opening soon. With over 30,000 rooms in operation or development across 64 properties and partner properties, Scape has a global footprint which is seeing rapid expansion.
Founded in 2008 by three entrepreneurs, Nigel Taee, Tom Ward and Adam Brockley, Scape was born from the belief that you shouldn’t have to compromise on quality city living. The company started within its Student by Scape proposition to solve the problem of sub-standard student accommodation. For years students have been living in badly designed spaces. Now, with there being more pressure on young people than ever, the role of where they live has never been more important.
It’s this same relentless drive for improvement that inspired the Living by Scape proposition which takes the DNA of the original Student by Scape offering and reimagines it for a much wider audience of city dwellers, professionals, key workers and digital nomads.
Scape is transforming the way in which people live through its smart approach to design and service. Built from the inside out, Scape incorporates elements such as workspaces, fitness studios, cinemas and shared kitchens, and by clearly maximising space Scape can help residents build warm communities without compromising on personal space. Each Scape property has been expertly shaped around the people who’ll call it home, giving everything they need in the smartest way possible.
Smartify is a global platform to discover art and culture. Working in museums, galleries, historic houses, sculpture parks, street art, and even hotels, Smartify is the free mobile guide that allows places to share their collections with the world.
The Big Local partnership is a group of residents from the William Morris Ward, who together are responsible for guiding the overall direction of the Big Local in their area. The Big Local plan describes the priorities for the area and how we will work towards achieving them and making the ward an even better place to live. The residents on the partnership meet every month to steer the project. The Big Local partnership and plans are endorsed by Local Trust, the charity that supports and oversees all 150 Big Locals nationally.
A creative programme from lead partners William Morris Big Local and Wood Street Walls, supported by Creative Civic Change which uses the arts and creativity to create meaningful civic change. The team of residents behind it are aiming to spotlight on organisations doing exciting work in the fields of design and social change – making the case for creativity as the essential ingredient in the process of creating a more equitable, caring society.
About Wood Street Walls
Wood Street Walls has three main goals as an organisation:
1. To bring public art to our area of East London for residents and visitors to enjoy, to encourage greater footfall and custom to local business. We have looked to other successful initiatives over the pond such as Wynwood Walll
2. To provide free periodic workshops for the charities, school children and beyond - to build a connection between the artistic and local community and help develop grow new talent for the next generation of artists.
3. Our final and biggest goal of our project is the establishing of a new creative hub for the area: Wood Street Studios, by repurposing a disused and derelict building in the area. According to a study commissioned by the Mayor of London, in 5 years over 30% of the current 14,000 artists in London will no longer have a place to call their own due to rising rents and land being developed by residential housing.