Sligo’s Friz to brighten up two walls in Foxford

SLIGO artist Friz (Marian Noone) has been commissioned to transform two walls with murals in Foxford, Co. Mayo.

Her work already features on a number of walls in Sligo, as well as in a number of other places.

Friz, who works in both traditional and digital mediums, is now based in Belfast and is a member of the SPOOM Collective, a group of artists who frequently collaborate on large scale murals.

A great deal of her current work is created with spray paint, though in her smaller pieces she prefers to use acrylics or watercolours.

Friz’s paintings have been included in group exhibitions in Belfast, Dublin and Sligo. Her painting ‘Queen Medb’ was commissioned for exhibition in the Ulster Museum as part of Tags not Labels which ran in conjunction with the V&A Street Art exhibition, including artwork by Banksy, D*Face, Jamie Hewlett and others.

In 2010 Friz was a member of the Dublin team competing in the Secret Wars Euro-League, the world’s premier live art battle involving 17 cities from around Europe. She has been invited as a guest artist to paint at such events as the Festival of Urban Art Sandyford in Dublin, ‘Eurocultured’ in Manchester, Dublin’s Smithfield Festival, Whitewash in Portadown, the Belfast BASE Festival and NPLD Festival in Sligo.

She studied Classical Animation in BCFE Dublin (2001–2003) and her work has been hugely influenced by this, helping her to capture motion and character in still image. Friz is regularly commissioned to create murals, including by the Sligo Borough Council and the Sligo Tidy Towns Committee.

It was her previous work that led to the Foxford Wall Art Project selcting her for their murals.

They are presently raising €5,000 for the murals through a GoFundMe page and on that they say: “One of the leading wall artists in the country, Friz (aka Marion Noone, Co. Sligo), was chosen for this project as the council and building owners were aware of her incredible work in Ballina and across the country.

“A professional artist of the highest quality, with a proven extensive portfolio, she was an essential choice as these two murals will be displayed for a long time and will represent Foxford as a community. This will contribute to increasing footfall for local businesses, pride of place, tourism and furthering the aesthetic of Foxford.”

Apart from her murals and paintings, Friz has also worked with clothing label company Project A Apparel to design artwork for T-shirts. She has designed CD artwork and T-shirts for music bands Beoga, A Plastic Rose and A Northern Light.