Murals making town 'more colourful place to live'

Murals installed in Ramsey are making the town "a more colourful place to live", the commissioner behind the project has said.

Four installations by Manx artists have popped up in the seaside town after the local authority backed outgoing commissioner Lamara Craine's plans.

An initial £2,000 was earmarked for the project, with a further £5,000 now budgeted to allow for a total of 26 pieces of artwork to be mounted on buildings.

Craine said the murals were "great additions to brighten up our streets, give our residents something enjoyable to see, and our visitors the opportunity for a selfie".

She said she had been inspired by seeing similar works in Peel, Castletown and Onchan.

Craine said she wanted to expand the public art plans to include privately owned properties in Ramsey town centre, adding that the murals "bring colour and character".

The designs for the mural boards, which are 8ft by 4ft (2.4m by 1.2m), can be inspired by themes of Ramsey, connections to the sea, Manx Folklore, the Isle of Man TT, historic local landmarks and local wildlife.

An installation on Cannell's Lane was painted by Kathy Craig, who was "blown away seeing it in person".

She said the collection was set to be a "real mix of talent and creativity".

She hopes taking the artwork out of galleries and moving it on to the streets will make it "accessible to anyone, and maybe put a smile on their face".

Meanwhile, Bar Logo on Crellin's Lane hosts a piece called the Foxglove and the Bee by Leanne Higgins.

The sports bar's manager, Ali Kennish, said the project was a "great idea to brighten up the town.

"So many buildings have just bare walls. It's great to see some colour and life brought into them."

Ramsey resident and artist Marianne Hatchard "pays homage" to her favourite creatures from Manx folklore in the Galloping Glashtyns mural mounted on the exterior of a shoe shop on Christian Street.

She said she drew inspiration from the powerful waves on the island's shores, and the half-man, half-horse legend always drawn to the tides.

"This is my way of celebrating the unique culture of the Isle of Man," she said.

The project was "such a big, in-your-face, example of how many talented people we have here, and it's lovely to be a part of it".

A fourth mural called Ramsey's Bathing Belle can been seen outside the pizza restaurant in Market Place.

Craine said she was "humbled" the creatives, who were paid £200 each for their work, had agreed to "make our town a more colourful place to live".

She encouraged any landlords interested in hosting furture murals to join the scheme.

She said another 22 "awesome spectacles" were in need of a home.

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