How Artist Molly Hawkins transformed a blank gallery into an explosion of bold shapes, playful murals and creative joy using Chalk Paint™

Welcome to the vibrant world of Artist Molly Hawkins. The Bristol based colour lover who is known for her bold, collage-inspired designs recently collaborated with Chalk Paint to create an immersive exhibition at Unit 2 Gallery in St Leonards on Sea, on the Sussex Coast, UK.

She used Jaipur Pink, Sandalwood Red, Emperor’s Silk, Firle, Svenska Blue, Florence, Greek Blue, Frida Blue, Oxford Navy and Pure Chalk Paints and Carnaby Yellow wall paint to create a large floor mural, wooden portable mural screens and fun shapes that characterised the space.

The making of Molly’s Chalk Paint wonderland

Molly’s transformation began with a showstopping floor mural in her signature large-scale, collage-inspired design that turned the ground into a canvas. Drawing from her experience painting basketball courts, she created a space that encouraged visitors to move, play and explore.

Proving that murals aren’t just for walls, she also created double-sided portable freestanding shapes visitors could walk (or dance!) around.

The journey then continued into a second room where she worked with carpenter-artist Nina Hunter to create a space that literally felt like walking inside one of her collages.

Layers of painted wood and cut-out forms created a maze of colours and shapes, culminating in an immersive installation that encouraged visitors to peek, wander, and weave their way through the artwork.

As part of their research and development process, Molly and Nina got inspired by the seaside setting, experimenting with cut-out shapes inspired by the coastal landscape. They danced, posed, and played with the pieces before they found a home in the gallery creating one of the most joyful and colourful exhibitions we’ve ever seen!

*All paint for this project was gifted by Annie Sloan

About Molly

@MollyMural is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer passionate about creating impactful public art that reimagines spaces into places of connection, colour and joy. Using the world as her canvas, her work brings people together through playful placemaking. Molly works with collage at the heart of her process. Her style is bold, colourful and full of energy.

With a background in theatre design, she has spent the past 10 years bringing vibrant large-scale artworks to streets, schools and even basketball courts across the UK and as far afield as Mexico, Colombia and Europe.

Images: Rachel Manns Photography and Molly Hawkins