The greater Chapel Ash area is an eclectic place. An area of big skies, proud old buildings, a mass of junctions and traffic, eateries, pubs and galleries. No matter the season, Chapel Ash manages to stand out. The area features in many of our lives, albeit for most as a busy gateway to Wolverhampton City Centre. We don’t all find reason to stop off, but those who do are likely to be intrigued by such a diverse array of buildings and businesses and will tend to come back time and time again, such is the draw of the place.

The Meadow Street junction at Chapel Ash

A place where artists feel at home

The area attracts creative people, artists, visionaries. Maybe it’s that big open sky and the unique buildings that inspire people here so much. The area doesn’t and has never had the official designation ‘Artist’s Quarter’, in fact the City Of Wolverhampton Council has named the area around Wolverhampton’s Theatres and Art Gallery such instead. The chosen spot for artistic free spirits however seems to be the greater Chapel Ash area – the growth of this area as a hive for artists is, as you’d expect it to be when frequented by creative minds, entirely organic.

Junction Festival 2013 Prior to a much needed paint job, the Tattoo Palace building at the junction of Clifton Street in 2010

Where is the ‘greater’ Chapel Ash area that attracts artists of all hues? Looking at the various galleries and workspaces available as well as the places that people are congregating, the Artist’s Quarter has its centre at Chapel Ash and extends south east to Graiseley, north west along the Tettenhall & Compton Roads as far as Clarendon Street and north east to the vicinity of Newhampton Arts Centre on Newhampton Road East, encompassing all that lies in-between.

The area already has its annual Junction Festival – a ‘pop up festival organised by the Wolverhampton Contemporary Art Forum. Full recognition of this area is the next step, something that will no doubt bring investment in further down the line.

West Wulf fully supports the recognition of this area as an artist’s / creative quarter and will be working alongside other agencies towards this aim.

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