Weekend Wandering: Public Art Discoveries
It's been great to find lots more public art around Chippenham this year; enough to make this collage for your delectation.
From left to right and top to bottom we have:
- Mustard Bustards by @lucas_antics next to Cousin Norman's and Artel31 on Union Road; Morris Dancer by the ever reliable Chippenham Knatty Knitters on Chippenham High Street for this year's folk festival; In Unity Beauty Unfolds by Sophie Mess at Rivo Lounge
- Kingfisher by Nathan Pritchard in the Kingfisher pub car park on Hungerdown Lane; Chippenham collage by 2024's Fringe February contributors; Canal scene by Ed Poster at the bus station
- Winnie's Barbershop by @hardlytryinganyway on Sheldon Road; Mystery horse next to St Andrew's church; Rainbow High Street project led by Public Art Chippenham for Chippenham Pride 2025
Sadly the Morris dancer was the last topper for the post box as it's now gone solar as have at least 2 others in Chippenham. Fingers crossed the other locations get their usual Christmas toppers from the fun Knatty Knitters group. The kingfisher was commissioned last year for the pub's 60th birthday and the Chippenham collage includes a little tile I decorated last year. I hope this piece finds a permanent home after its temporary display at The Arc climbing centre earlier this year. I don't know much about the horse - except W and I didn't like it that much when we found it on one of our walks - and the same spot previously had a giant hand there during Lockdown. NB the rainbow street was a temporary installation and is no more.
It's not just graffiti art to find around Chippenham; my posts from previous years have plenty of commissioned paintings, sculpture, stained glass, mosaics and other objects too. There's also indoor work to explore - have a look at my Google map for the full picture across the whole town (see what I did there? 😉)
You may also like my previous posts about Chippenham's public art:
- My original post about Chippenham's public art and the voluntary work I did with Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre to find it
- More about In Unity Beauty Unfolds down by the river
- The creation of the canal mural at Timber Street
- Pewsham Belle WI's involvement in the Chippenham collage (mine's the one on the left!)
- Westmead's sculpture trail

I've just been looking through my notes and see the earliest piece we can see today is from 1982 and is tucked away in the Town Hall. The first outdoor piece seen in the town centre is from 1995 (called Twister) though there is one on the outskirts of Chippenham dating from 1993 (Fox Talbot). We didn't really get going with a substantial body of work until the millennium.
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