GLASGOW.- A team of artists, who are soon to paint large murals in the Dumfries and Galloway countryside, are seeking a site in Glasgow to create another major work.

Spring Fling Rural Mural is a collaboration between street artists from UK and European cities and artists based in one of Scotland’s most sparsely populated regions. It is being staged as part of the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.

The first phase, in March, involves creating a series of murals on buildings at a farm, village pub and a centre for rescued animals. As the theme of this year’s SFRM is “exchange” the artists will then create a second wave of urban murals in Glasgow, Newcastle and Berlin during March and April.

SFRM is organised by Dumfries and Galloway’s Upland arts agency as a part of its annual Spring Fling visual art and craft open studios weekend. Rural Mural is project managed by Glasgow-based urban art specialists Recoat – who are now on the hunt for mural site in their home city.

Amy Whiten, Recoat manager, said: “The response in Dumfries and Galloway has been brilliant and we have some amazing sites for murals. We are hoping to find somewhere just as exciting for phase two – when Rural Mural goes urban.

“We are hoping to find something a couple of storeys high, so if you own somewhere that might be suitable please let us know.

“It’s going to be really interesting taking a project which has started in the countryside into a city like Glasgow – to see what themes emerge and how the murals speak to each other.”

Amy and her partner Ali Wyllie, who are also the lead artists for SFRM, have a long track record of high-quality mural making. This includes In Common, which involved collaborating with international artists to create five murals across Glasgow in celebration of the Commonwealth Games.

The Glasgow part of the project will be carried out by Amy and Ali with Morag Paterson, an internationally renowned photographer and visual artist, based near Thornhill. Morag specialises in abstract images inspired by the natural environment.

Clare Hanna, Upland Director (maternity cover), said: “It’s great to have a collaboration which brings together artists from rural and urban areas, from Scotland and Europe, to create large, vibrant murals in the country and the city.

“The locations we have in Dumfries and Galloway are really exciting – a centre which cares for unwanted and abandoned animals, a pub in the heart of a village and magnificent farm building. So we are really hoping for sites that are just as good in Glasgow, Newcastle and Berlin.”

Recoat were also closely involved in the original SFRM, which took place in 2014, and saw a series of artworks created on barns, buildings and even a horse blanket, in Dumfries and Galloway.