NERAM street art exhibition was one of four exhibitions rounding out 2023

Armidale Street was one of four exhibitions that opened at NERAM.

The other works that opened on the night include 'A Stich in Time: Judy Wilford Retrospective', 'Thursday Studio Group, Celebrating 40 years of NERAM's community engagement' and '20 Years of UNESAP'.

Director Rachael Parsons said it was an incredible evening.

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"This was our last exhibition for the year, there was such an amazing turnout and an amazing vibe and the attendees really enjoyed the colours and boldness of the exhibitions.

"It was so nice to celebrate the end of our exhibition year with our community."

Armidale Street exhibition opened to coincide with a street walk with the artists visiting several murals around town including the Goldfish Bowl, ARC building, Cinders Lane laneway and Moore Street.

NERAM has collaborated with Armidale Regional Council to produce a self-guided online walking tour of the street-style exhibition which can be found at freeguides.com/experiences/armidale-street-art-tour.

"Our curator Belinda Hungerford and I noticed that in the last say 4 to 5 years there has been an increased interest in street art in the region, I think Armidale Regional Council and other businesses understand that murals and street art can be something that can create vibrancy and spaces for people to engage with.

"It's about bringing the art out of galleries and museums and into the places where people are walking, working, living, and shopping.

"We wanted to acknowledge the fantastic work that was going on throughout the town and also provide another point for people to access that in a different way and move past the idea that street art perhaps in the past may be at least in some circles considered purely as graffiti.

"Street art is its own artistic medium and has its own unique techniques that can exist both on the walls here at NERAM and also out in the environment."

Street artist James O'Hanlon, who created the murals in the McDonalds' car park and drive through as well as Moore Street said in an artistic sense, he does a little bit of everything and is enjoying the life of a freelancer.

"I do mural painting which I love, but I also I write and create small-scale artwork, I do all kinds of stuff but I'd say the murals are probably my primary (and well-known) form at the moment because they are more public.

I'm given quite a nice artistic scope to work with when it comes to the murals (such as the one in the McDonald's car park). The actual painting of the artwork took a couple of days but the design process can certainly trickle on for a couple of months as I develop my ideas digitally first and then I'm able to convey that out at scale on-site.

James' works feature primarily nature-related themes, a nod to his previous life as an academic in the natural sciences.

"Walls don't have to be boring squares, street art is seeing a huge surge in popularity and I'm loving every minute of it," Says James.

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