Be You, Be Creative collaborative mural brightens campus

10 September 2023

Student and Alumnus collaborated to use university wall as a canvas, to bring colour to Swansea city centre.

Two sides of a one-storey building thickly painted in a colourful mural: interspersed among coloured shapes are the words Be You, Be Creative.

A brightly coloured mural has been painted at University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s (UWTSD) Swansea College of Art, which can be found and enjoyed at the Dynevor Campus in Swansea city centre.

The mural, entitled Be You, Be Creative, was designed by then-student, now recent graduate Huw Edwards, who studied BA Graphic Design at UWTSD. As part of his third year independent project, Huw wanted to communicate to prospective students and young people that creative careers and education programmes can be pursued without fear, shame or judgement, and that there is plenty of support available.

The UK is world-renown as a creative powerhouse, with creative industries contributing £13.2 million to the nation’s economy on an hourly basis, totalling an annual contribution at around £115.9 billion in 2019 (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, 2019.) The brand-new mural at UWTSD celebrates the diversity of art and design subjects and the vibrant people who follow creative paths, including many whose journey begun in the corridors of Swansea College of Art.

After the design was finished, Huw collaborated with Swansea-based mural painting company Fresh Creative to bring a wall on campus to life. Working with Fresh Creative artist Phil Cheater, who is also an alumnus of UWTSD’s Swansea College of Art, the pair created the mural with professionalism and passion, creating a vibrant and joyful image for all to enjoy and contemplate.

Huw says: “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to create a mural which reflects something very close to my heart. I was always told that art is just a hobby, but making the decision to study art and design at university was the best thing that ever happened to me, and has already opened professional doors.” Huw graduated this summer with First Class honours, and went immediately into employment as a designer.

Donna Williams, Programme Manager for Graphic Design at UWTSD added: “We are delighted that the project has been completed and the mural created for everyone to enjoy. This has been a labour of love for Huw, who has been a fantastic student, always adding meaning and taking joy in all that he creates. We were impressed by his courage to follow what he wanted to do, his continuous engagement and creative responses to all his projects, which brings us joy as lecturers.

“We are delighted that Fresh Creative artist Phil Cheater, a former UWTSD student, worked with us to get the design onto the walls. This gave the mural even more emphasis and exemplifies what we do here; it celebrates the achievements of our graduates and we hope it offers confidence to prospective students, future artists and designers.”