Drawn to life

Architectural artist Matt Wright is working on a unique tribute to Lincoln’s historic Bailgate, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry. Interview by Kate Chapman.

The project, which Matt affectionately calls the ‘Bailgate Papestry’, started in August last year and has seen him drawing every building on one side of Lincoln’s historic Bailgate on a giant roll of paper.

The work celebrates the street’s rich architecture and commerce and so far Matt has completed illustrations measuring 8ft in length. He anticipates the whole piece will fill his 25ft roll of paper and take six months to finish. He then hopes to draw the other side of the street and afterwards display his work publicly.

“The Bayeux Tapestry was the inspiration for the size and dimensions of the piece. It was hearing about its return to the British Museum that sparked my imagination,” explains Matt, who draws using fine liner pens on watercolour paper.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the tapestry and thought it would be great to do my own tribute. My original idea was to create Lincoln’s very own version of it – rather than depicting the Norman invasion and subsequent crowning of William the Conqueror, my drawing would depict the conquest of architecture and independent businesses against an ever-changing landscape.  

“It’s proving to be great fun. As I’m going along I’ve called in on some of the shop owners and had a little chat. Some have given me a little bit of the history about the building and their business.

“A lot of people are sending me messages and stories through social media too – it’s all making it feel very community based.”

Creative process
Matt, who grew up in Lincoln and returned to the city during the 2020 lockdown, lives a short distance from the area he’s drawing. He returns to the historic Bailgate area most Fridays to take a few extra photos of the buildings he’s working on and to check details such as window displays in order to keep his work as up to date as possible.

He then takes his photos back to his studio and begins the process of measuring and working on the next building, painstakingly drawing each individual brick.

Every building is drawn face on, but Matt says he’s using a little bit of architectural licence to get the perspective right. It can take a week, sometimes longer to complete each building.

“I’ve been asked a lot about what’s going to happen to the drawing when it’s finished. My original plan, which I’d still like to do, was to put it on display, maybe have a temporary exhibition so anyone can come and look at it.

“A lot of people have shown an interest in what I’m doing. It would be really nice to include some of the stories of the people and the businesses featured.

“There’s going to be logistical, financial and practical issues about displaying it, but I think it would be a nice, positive thing for Lincoln.”

Drawing talent
Matt has always enjoyed drawing and started playing the guitar at 13. When it came to choosing his GCSE options he had to pick between art and music and chose the latter. It would be another 15 years before he picked up a pencil again.

He played guitar in various bands, ranging in styles from indie to folk to punk and toured the UK extensively, as well as Europe multiple times and Australia. He also worked in production, recording and producing bands in a studio environment.

“I have no formal art education and spent a lot of my life working in music,” he says.

“When I was in my late 20s and early 30s I was touring quite a lot. I took up drawing during my downtime as a way to unwind and relax. It was quite a chaotic and turbulent lifestyle, so the drawing was a great antidote. 

“I really enjoyed putting pen to paper without having to think about anything for a few hours and it kind of went from there. I’ve drawn all sorts of stuff, but mostly architectural and buildings.”

Matt turned his imaginary cityscapes into children’s books and shared his work on social media. He received messages from friends and their friends, enquiring about commissions and soon found himself taking on the odd one, before that snowballed to five or six a month.

“I was drawing all the time,” recalls Matt who is married to Roz and father to Ruben. “As well as working on some personal projects, I was also drawing as much of Lincoln as I could.”

In 2023 he completed a piece called Haunted Lincoln celebrating the city’s rich history, stunning architecture, and unique charm, all peppered with playful nods to its haunted past.

The piece is available as a print from his online shop, along with other works including Pub Crawl – a nine-month project paying homage to Lincoln’s pubs.

Inspiring artists
As well as selling prints of his work online, at events and through a local gallery, Matt has also turned some of his work into wooden jigsaws.

He’s recently filmed an online course in conjunction with Desoto Productions to help and inspire other artists too. This can be purchased as a single download and kept.

“I’ve covered a lot about techniques, but it’s all very accessible and I’ve tried to keep it quite simple going through everything, including the materials I use.

“I’ve gone out into Lincoln, picked a few buildings and talked about why they would be quite interesting to draw. Then I’ve shown the process from selecting them to draw right through to how I shade and approach different things, like shadowing.

“It’s a bit of a funny one as I do not in any way feel qualified to advise people in something that I am not professionally trained in. I always try to be helpful when people message me and always try to answer their questions – this seemed like a good way of putting it all together.

“I love drawing and feel incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do and generate an income. It’s relaxing and enjoyable and it also gives me time with my family, which is super important.”

Follow Matt’s progress on his Bailgate Papestry via his social media channels, where there are also links to his online shop and course: instagram.com/matandhiscat/

Main image: Architectural illustrator Matt Wright (Photography: Rachel London)

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