Art in progress and the finished mural by Mique Moriuchi.


This ties with Mique’s belief that public art can be unifying. “It can help bring people together from different generations, cultures and backgrounds and promote a sense of belonging,” she says. “It can open up our world, offering different perspectives, making us think and sparking meaningful conversations. It can inspire and uplift, fire up our imaginations and make us feel a range of emotions. It is a universal language that can be accessed by all. At a time when there is a lot of division and hate being stirred up across the country and the world, I believe it is especially important to have spaces for art that promotes kindness, love, inclusion, diversity and unity.’ Just as Mique uses a range of materials to create her artwork, there can be different forms used for public artwork. Chris Judge, author and illustrator of The Lonely Beast has worked on an impressive number of public art projects in and around Dublin including the creation of a mythologically inspired marine mosaic for a shelter on the seafront in Bray. It’s a dynamic, humorous scene which creates a real focal point, drawing on the setting of the coastal town.


Chris is also experienced in working


with communities to help co-create public artwork. His Made in Swords project is an example of this where he worked in collaboration with around 40 students from Fingal Community College to create a graphic novel that was printed as a mini comic and which is available as an eBook through the local library service. The book was launched at the Magic of Stories Festival in 2024 and a dramatic montage was reproduced on hoardings in the area. He says: “We hosted several writing and drawing workshops where the students created their own graphic novel stories. I took a selection of these and working with the students, edited and redrew them in a cohesive style.”


The windows of bookshops and


libraries can be a rich area for creating art that hooks audiences into settings. Mark Bradley, a comic writer and illustrator based in Yorkshire has created the brilliantly funny Bumble and Snug characters. He’s used the appeal of these characters to create window art for bookshops. Elaine Silverwood, proprietor of Book, Bean and Ice Cream bookshop in Kirkham, Lancashire had Mark visit and work on window art for her shop. Reflecting on the value this adds, Elaine


says: “Having an illustrator ‘decorate’ our window definitely creates a focal feature for the local community and draws attention to the shop. It always gives a happy feel to the window and helps to trigger conversations with the customers – including giving some children confidence to chat about the characters from the books that have been used in the illustrations. We also notice that it makes a difference to the sales of the titles concerned, providing a pathway into the books for readers.”


Wild in Art is an organisation that helps create imaginative public art trails. Characters from children’s books including David McKee’s Elmer the Elephant, Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman and the bears from Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt have all formed the base of popular trails. In addition to their character-led trails, Wild in Art also produces special book bench trails.


As part of Read Manchester, a collaboration between Manchester City Council and the National Literacy Trust, a trail of 58 book benches was created across the city. Each bench was designed by schools and community groups with


Made in Swords and Bray seafront murals from Chris Judge Studios. 14 PEN&INC. Autumn-Winter 2025


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