One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish: seascape mural

Over two years ago, a community project added some colour at the Ham, on the wall of Bagwell's Fish Shop.
It used to look like this:


Massive kids’ mural for Sidmouth fish shop wall - News - Sidmouth Herald

And now looks like this:


Sidmouth, Devon | Flickr - Photo Sharing! c: Steven Lamb


Sidmouth, Devon | Flickr - Photo Sharing! c: Steven Lamb

Thanks to the generous support of the Keith Owen Fund of the SVA:


Sidmouth mural joy - News - Eastern Daily Press

Louise Cole, who with Sidmouth artist Coco Hodgkinson worked on the seascape mural by the Ham with more than 100 children, praised the fund, saying: 

“It is non-bureaucratic and we really hooked into Keith Owen’s vision and values.”

She said KOF gave a “quick, positive response” to their application.

We want to help Sidmouth explains Keith Owen Fund - News - Sidmouth Herald

Fish mural praise

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

SIR - I am writing to say thank you to all the children, parents, grandparents and carers who turned up on Wednesday, April 13, to support the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish project, to create a fish mural on the side of the Bagwell’s fish shop wall.

We were worried the weather would have put people off, it was very hard to judge the level of interest we would get, but were so pleased, we were a bit overwhelmed with our limited resources! I think the concept of children contributing to a lasting piece of community art was an idea that has captured people.

Thank you to our fabulous team of volunteers who baked delicious cakes, put up (and took down!) four gazebos and helped out all the chilly and rainy day long. Thanks to one of our volunteers, we have created a website to record the project, please take a look at 

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - Home

We hope the finished wall will be enjoyed by all for years to come. Coco Hodgkinson, our local community artist, has worked so hard to innovate, keep costs down and direct the artistic and environmental vision of the project to include around 145 children – no mean feat! Whilst creating a beautiful design at the same time with matching colour schemes and using real fish from the Bagwell’s shop to cast the fish moulds to create 150 tiles, using only sustainable fish types: Mackerel, John Dory, Plaice and Sprats enlivened with Star Fish.

The Bagwell’s, the Keith Owen Fund and all of you who bought cakes and fish tiles and played Spot the Shark! - courtesy of the National Marine Aquarium (Plymouth) - have enabled us to cover the costs of all the materials. 

In our minds, though, it is much wider than that and hope that, whether you took part or just enjoy it, it is part of the whole community that reflects how gorgeous the place we live in is.

Thank you!

Louise Cole

Fish mural praise - Letters - Sidmouth Herald

And last week at the opening of the school holidays, the mural was given a good scrubbing:

Seascape mural gets community clean-up

Friday 26th July 2013

Volunteers who were involved int the original project to create a vibrant seascape mural on the wall of Bagwell's Fish Shop got together on Tuesday evening with brushes and buckets.
The mural was a community arts project led by Coco Hodgkinson and Louise Cole.
The individual fish were cast by Coco and hand painted by the children.
The fish themselves are all sustainable types to raise awareness in the community of the need to conserve fish stocks.
Louise said, 'We have had so many positive comments from passers-by that they love the wall, and the community ethos behind it, it is enjoyed by all and is in a prime spot to brighten up the Ham.'

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