The Stencil Shed

Shed Features

A retired Guerilla artist called 'Syd' had retreated to his bespoke garden shed spraying objects with spraypaint for fun but kept quiet about his hobby and workshop location to the world. Then on April 12th 2012 an email was received with a link to a website that listed over 2000 other shed dwellers in a similar boat, and had a competition to see which one was the best shed every year. Boom, everything clicked into place in about ten seconds and The Stencil Shed was born.

So after a year of fun, inbetween competitions (It was third in 2012,) that has seen me have a few scrapes with the local council and make the national news with a Damien Hirst mickey take, I present, the NEW Stencil Shed for 2013.

Other Shed info

The Stencil Shed smiles right back at you at the end of a well maintained garden. Designed as an optical illusion the new and the old lock together to make a lovely shed face that looks upon you as you gaze up the garden. It has a true green roof with sedums, grasses and a tree growing through it. Quite simply, Mrs Stencil Shed said no planting space was to be lost if we extend the shed, putting the garden on the roof was the obvious solution. A fullsized gorilla guards the entrance adjacent to a cider barrel water butt. The shed itself is divided into two sections, the old stencil shed is my workshop area and the new bit is an Art Gallery and Cider Bar that replicates exactly the essence of my favourite Malmesbury drinking den The Whole Hog, complete with bar stooled view through a large window to a Market Cross mural& I call it the Half Hog. Two walls of the Half Hog completely open out to act as a canopy for either drying space for artworks or extra socializing space for cider drenched guests. Between May 29th and May 31st 2013 I spent 3 days solidly in the shed grabbing 6 hours sleep but completed a 9 piece mural I call the Sydstine Chapel, its stunning and I'm very proud of it. See photos. The shed itself is littered with my artworks all done with varying degrees of expertise. In the winter the wood burner keeps me warm as I spraypaint and the wireless 400w stereo system with streaming music keeps my mind entertained with high octane beats all year round. Cost, well it cost next to nothing to build. A lot of the materials were either traded, reclaimed, donated or purchased with money from the odd artwork sale. The sleepers that make the raised veg patch were reclaimed from the River Avon after the floods. The weather vane was traded for a couple of artworks sprayed onto roof slates that I reclaimed from a skip. I love my creation, its totally me, but in shed form. MAN MAKETH SHED, SHED MAKETH MAN copyright Syd circa 2012. Read about the Stencil Shed 2013 Shed of the Year campaign here