Artist creates an ‘Oasis’ mural for Warndon Hub as part of the Worcester Paint Festival

Oasis Hub: Warndon were chosen as one of the sites to be a part of this year’s Worcester Paint Festival, supported with £1,000 from Platform Housing Groups Community Chest Funding.

The festival took place on 16^th and 17^th September, with emerging artists creating vibrant outdoor galleries. One of the artists, Anna Best, drew inspiration from the Oasis 9 Habits for her paintings on a wall at the entrance of the community Hub site, a plain canvas, perfect to incorporate the core values of the academy’s ethos: honest, hopeful, joyful, considerate, forgiving, patient, self-controlled, compassionate, and humble.

Anna said: “It was such a pleasure to spend time at Oasis Academy Warndon and more specifically the Oasis Community Hub, painting a Mural for The Worcester Paint Festival. The staff and families were so welcoming and positive about the artwork I created on the side of the Hub building.”

“Children are always the best cheerleaders. They visited me from their lessons, asked some awesome questions about what it's like to be an artist and suggested ways I could make my mural better, thanks kids!”

Anna went on to say she was blown away by the Hub staff, describing it as ‘such an important space for the community.’

“Seeing the ace work the staff there do made painting this particular mural even more rewarding. Thanks for having me, Oasis Hub Warndon!”

Community Hub Leader & Regional Cluster Lead for the Midlands, Fay Osborne commented: “We have wanted to be part of Worcester Paint Festival for some time and this year has not disappointed us! To see how the local community have responded to having ‘Chalk It Up’ professionally paint a wall in the area that reflects our ethos and 9 habits in its design has been a real talking point!”

“We work with folks of all ages at the Community Hub site from birth up and it’s been a real treat to see parents stopping with pushchairs to point out the work and children seeing the work grow over the week from a blank wall!”

“Anna the artist has really embraced all of the conversations that she has had with people visiting, encouraged questions too! Folks rarely get the chance to meet a professional artist let alone on their doorstep! It’s really made us all feel a little closer to being part of an amazing city and this growing festival! We really hope that we get to do it again!”

Kate Cox, Director of Worcester Paint Festival, said: “We were pleased to work with ‘Chalk it Up’ and Oasis Hub getting into the heart of the community of Warndon. We need to thank Platform Housing for their support to make this happen.”