Sudbury gears up for 2nd annual Up Here festival

The second annual Up Here festival kicks off thisThursday, and muralists from across Canada and around the world have been busy painting around downtown Sudbury.

Hobzspent the past five days painting a mural of a giant blue moose on the side of a downtown restaurant. He came all the way from Paris to participate in the event.

"Personally, it's my first big mural in Canada. And, I'm happy to have the first in Sudbury."

Adding a little 'jolt' of colour to Sudbury's downtown

Other muralists like Toronto-based Kirsten McCrea just started painting her mural on Monday and is almost finished. She says she wants to add a bit of colour to Sudbury's downtown.

"A lot of our buildings are brown and beige and grey and I like to add a little jolt of colour," she said.

"It is a bright, beautiful mural with a lot of colour and it's going to be overlapping pieces of pattern that sort of look like ripped and torn paper."

McCrea, who has paintedin Montreal, Peterborough and Toronto, says it's an honour to have her work featured in the nickel city.

"It's really exciting anywhere to get to do a wall that's on a really high traffic street," she said.

"I'm just excited that people from all walks of life are going to see it."

Bigger event than last year's

This year's Up Here will feature work from seven muralists, including internationally renowned French artists Ella & Pitr.

The artists are known for their rooftop murals, and are working on a piece on top of Science North.

The event will also include headlining acts Stars and Young Galaxy.

Christian Pelletier, the co-founder of Up Here, says this year's festival will be bigger than the last.

"It really is this full experience, an immersive experience that combines both music and art."

Up Here starts Thursday night and runs through to Saturday.