Street artist paints the city to life
Inspirational street artist Jeremy Shirley, transforms miserable urban landscapes into uplifting places…
Instead of taking advice, against becoming an artist, Jeremy Shirley turned his love for art, into a career.
The well-known artist has introduced Hamilton to street art, with his creative murals displayed throughout the community.
Growing up, Jeremy loved the pictures of graffiti and street art, that he would see in books and magazines.
“It’s amazing what you can do. Street art blew me away. When I could see the power of it, and how it can brighten up the streets, you know Hamilton was just bare and grey.”
Jeremy’s career as a street artist, flourished after his first bus shelter project.
He put in a proposal to the council, stating how he could help solve the tagging problem in the bus shelters, by painting over them.
Jeremy has now painted more than 40 bus shelters, completely transforming them.
“They go from a grey rectangle that gets tagged every other night, to something for the people.
“Some of the most impactful work, is in the really ugly urban situations, where there’s just been no love and places are miserable and you can just really transform it.”
Jeremy has now renewed café interiors, shop exteriors, bus shelters, side streets, and many more neglected places.
His beautiful designs have not only painted a smile on people’s faces, but he has revamped Hamilton into a creative space. A place where he is able to inspire and interact with the youth.
He went on to say: “They’re amazed that you can do that for a living, because a lot of them do have the skills and the talents but it just seems really hard.
“We can live our wildest dream if we want to, it’s up to us. You don’t have to be stuck in a crappy job, if you have a dream and have something you really want to do, you can do it.”
Jeremy’s hard work and creativity has not gone unnoticed, as he has had many encounters with people while working.
“Sometimes I’ve been quite humbled by people’s reactions. In fact, sometimes I’ll be working somewhere random and obscure, and someone will come round the corner and be emotional, just because it’s looked horrible for so long.”
Jeremy Shirley has many more exciting plans and ideas for the future, so make sure to keep an eye out for him in our transforming city.
