Street art festival leaving 'real legacy'

Street artist Sophie Odling travelled from Australia to Weston-super-Mare to paint a mural

Covering some of a seaside town's buildings with murals is creating a "real legacy", says the founder of a street art festival.

Artists are painting murals across Weston-super-Mare until 27 July as part of the fifth Weston Wallz event.

The town's artistic takeover is organised by the Upfest team - who put on Europe's largest street art and graffiti festival in south Bristol.

Steve Hayles, co-founder of Upfest, said starting Wallz five years ago in Weston-super-Mare was "pushing the boundary".

The town is hosting 50 artists painting 19 murals - which will bring the total number of murals created in Weston-super-Mare during Wallz over the years to 75.

And the street artists have come from all over the world.

Sophie Odling, who travelled from Australia to cover part of seafront pub Captains Cabin in a mural, said the event had lots of benefits for the town.

"It's so rewarding to be able to contribute art to the local people.

"It brings culture and art to the outdoors... it creates a lot of interest and whole different vibes, it draws a lot of tourism to the area as well," she said.

There will be a total of 75 Wallz murals across Weston-super-Mare when this year's festival finishes

Mr Hayles said putting art in public spaces was positive for people who could not get to galleries.

"A lot of people find it difficult to go into museums and galleries so having artwork on the street creates conversation," he said.

"Whether you like it or you don't, ultimately you've got an opinion. That's the really great thing about putting it in a public space," he added.