Stencils for Poems Project by Severn Arts

Severn Arts is a leading arts charity based in Worcester. Their aim is to engage with and educate children and young people in the arts. They also support local artists and assist in the delivery of a programme of new festivals in Worcester.

The City Speaks is a large-scale poetry installation that featured the words of 10 local poets and creative writers woven into the fabric of the city streets. It was part of the Same But Different festival that consists of a series of events and installations throughout the city of Worcester, which ran from 19th – 23rd July 2021. The idea behind Same But Different is to allow people to discover and connect more with the world around them as we come out of COVID-19 restrictions.

We were approached by Media Gang to produce stencils of the poems for this project. There were 24 poems in all, differing in font style and character height ranging between 150mm to 300mm. A number of the poem stencils were designed to be read as several lines of poetry whilst others were short snippets of single lines. Some lines were curved so that they could fit around the base of posts and there was even one at the base of a tree! We also made some QR stencils so that passers-by could scan the codes and listen to the corresponding poem nearby.

QR Code stencilled onto pavement with instruction: scan to listen

The stencils were designed with easy application in mind, and are made from polyester film also known as Mylar. They were positioned according to the printed guides that were provided, and then stuck down using tape before being painted. The paintwork for the stencils was completed overnight, which was a welcome sight to festival goers and pedestrians the following day. They were located at various stops along South Quay Riverside and St Martin’s Quarter.

Thank you all for the stella stencil work you did on Seven Arts. The guys said the stencils were superbly organised and clear for them to piece together using your printed guides.

As always, great to be working with you on these projects.

- Manou Bendon, Media Gang Director

How to Order

We are one of the UK’s leading custom stencil makers specialising in extra large stencils. We make stencils that come in a variety of sizes, thickness of material and can be made up to virtually any size or quantity.

We understand that every project is different, so you can fill in a contact form with your artwork and technical details, email us at [email protected] or call us on 0161 989 0847 to speak to our team of laser cutting experts.

Phrase: same but different stencilled onto pavement