The painting of the Horns of Plenty mural, now live and vivid on the corner of Stockmore Street and Cowley Road (map) in East Oxford, was the highlight of events in 2018 to flag up the band’s first 10 years of the making music on the Cowley Road.
The initial idea was to commission a local artist to transform a wall into a site celebrating the Horns and the Cowley Rd as a place of music, community and carnival. The first two things needed were a wall and an artist…so Lynn from Horns approached Andrew Manson (aka Mani or thebigorange), who really like the idea and they went on the search for suitable walls, settling on the surprisingly large gable wall of Sushi Corner, just 100 yards from EOCC where Horns of Plenty are based.
Cowley Road Mural 2017
Good fortune, tea and the enthusiasm of Mr Tao the manager meant return trips to Sushi Corner with more ideas of what it might it look like. Mani sketched at rehearsals and gigs and checked out our website for ideas… and went away to work up his sketches, and with these, and the help of Mr Tao, we got approval and permission from the building’s owner to go ahead.
A successful grant application in April for matched funding to Oxford City Council’s Art Fund followed, and also the offer of help from Cowley Rd Carnival with essential kit for the job – a scaffold and a harness. Meanwhile, Mani was harvesting large quantities of paint from Orinoco recycled supplies as well as spray paint from 420 on Cowley Rd.
A mural of this scale is a huge undertaking. Mani, helped by friends and family, spent almost 2 weeks in May braving the inclement weather and the physical challenge of erecting the scaffold each day and dismantling it each night. Mr Tao and staff at Sushi Corner generously provided meals and shelter for the artist and his team.
Cowley Road Mural 2017
Finishing touches over the next few weeks meant that it was ready right on schedule for the Horns of Plenty to give the mural a musical baptism at the start of Cowley Road Carnival on 1 July 2017.
We love it. It features members of the band, including our late and much missed snare drummer David Attwooll.
Can you spot anyone you know?