Vibrant murals by both internationally renowned and Northern Ontario artists for Up Here 5
Sudbury’s getting several more splashes of colour during Up Here 5.
The fifth-anniversary edition of Up Here will see the creation of four new large-scale murals by four incredible artists: two international visitors and two Northern Ontarians. The urban art and music festival runs Friday, August 16 to Sunday, August 18, in Downtown Sudbury.
Up Here worked with guest curator and contemporary graffiti-sculptor KWEST to attract the world-renowned street artists—RISK and TRAV MSK—who are coming to town specifically for the festival. Locally celebrated artists Laura Peturson and Matti Lehtelä will create the two other murals.
The Power Up Project is also back for a third straight year, providing electrical utility boxes as canvasses for six more local artists.
Mural by RISK
Visiting artists
RISK is one of the biggest names in the street art and graffiti scene in the United States. The length of RISK’s career spans over 30 years of his intense dedication to spray paint. He made a strong impact on the evolution of graffiti as an art form worldwide by pushing the boundaries of graffiti with his unique letterforms. He was one of the first writers in Southern California to paint freight trains, and he pioneered writing on freeway overpasses.
Mural by TRAV MSK
TRAV MSK is a graffiti and street-art artist from Visalia, California. His visits to Los Angeles as a child and the graffiti culture of the city shaped his artistic aesthetic. Currently, his work reflects the shift in our society from the industrial to the digital era which can be observed in his pieces that mirror the whimsical signage of the ’50s and ’60s. He pays homage to the craftsmanship of an older generation while embracing current technology to produce his work. He is an active member of The Seventh Letter and Mad Society Kings Artist Collective.
Laura Peturson
Local Muralists
Laura Peturson’s work is narrative in nature and draws upon archetypes from children’s literature. Her work captures an experience of childhood as it relates to place: place as geography, place within a family structure, and the interiority that forms one’s sense of identity. She’s based in Callander.
Matti Lehtelä
Matti Lehtelä is a graphic designer, illustrator, and dreamer based in Sudbury who finds inspiration and beauty in the world around him. From ‘90s pop culture to Touko Laaksonen, to the vast cosmos we call home, Matti pulls from these sources to create lush, technicolour, alternate realities. Lehtelä was a part of the Power Up Project in 2017.
Power Up Project
Up Here’s Power Up Project is back for the third year in a row thanks to a continued partnership with Greater Sudbury Utilities. The project allows six local artists to paint electrical utility boxes in and around the downtown core. Local artists invited by Up Here this year include Brent Hardisty (Niiwin Binesi), Lümen Moratz, Brandon James McBain, Nic Derro, Chantal Abdel-Nour, and Ivy Ireland.
Power Up artist Sarah Dempsey, 2018
Mural locations will be announced later in July. Up Here is able to once again count on the support of Barrydowne Paint and Equipment World to provide paint and rental equipment to the festival. This year’s murals are also made possible thanks to the support of Greater Sudbury Utilities, TD, CBC Sudbury, and Surface Art.
Fifth-anniversary edition
Up Here 5 will present three days of concerts by more than 40 emerging and established artists including dance-funk legends ESG, indigenous hip-hop group Snotty Nose Rez Kids, and Juno award-winning electro-pop duo Milk & Bone, among others. The urban art festival will also transform public spaces with immersive art installations, surprise concerts, a giant geodesic dome, and a pop-up bar on Durham Street.
For the complete artist lineup, visit uphere.com or download the official Up Here app.
Up Here has been able to thrive with the support of countless allies. A special thanks to Downtown Sudbury, Canadian Heritage, Barrydowne Paint, Equipment World, Greater Sudbury Utilities, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Creates, the City of Greater Sudbury, Sudbury Tourism, RBC Royal Bank, Laurentian University - McEwen School of Architecture, Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations a Glencore Company, Collège Boréal, Bureau des affaires francophones de l’Université Laurentienne, Duplicators, Copy Copy Printing, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Downtown Sudbury Art Crawl, CBC Sudbury, Exclaim!, Sudbury.com, Sudbury Living, Hot 93.5, Rewind 103.9, CKLU 96.7 FM, A.Side, Stack Brewing, Studio123, and many more.
