For our latest conversation with a Steel City creative, Maisie Ellis sits down with Sheffield muralist Ethan Lemon to talk about carving out a name on the city’s walls and the ideas behind his recent exhibition Beginnings.
Can you tell us a bit about your mural work?
A lot of it has been self-initiated around Sheffield. I’ve been developing this new style and I’ve just spied spots that I thought ‘oh, that’s abandoned’ or ‘that’s got graffiti on already’, and then I’ve sort of rocked up and done what I wanted to. It’s nice to have a practice in a way, you know, to try my new ideas out.
I’ve only been in Sheffield for about two years, so I’ve been trying to get my name out there, doing as many murals as I can really, and doing my little character face as much as I can. I’m glad people have started to recognise it, and I like it when people mention it to me. So yeah, it’s definitely working – definitely a staple.
How did you learn to paint and how has your art developed?
I’m self-taught, really. I didn’t go to uni or anything. I did art at school, but I mostly learnt at home, every night after school and every weekend.
When I got to about 14, I started to meet other people who did graffiti as well – that was my first time meeting people who were actually doing it. That’s when I learned how to spray paint properly.
Still, a lot of it was just me using spray paint all the time and practising – kind of trial and error.
How have your methods or style evolved throughout your time as an artist, going between street art and canvas?
I’ve been doing street art with spray paint forever – for the past 15 years or something. Then a couple of years ago, I felt like I’d got to a point where I was decent at it, and I wanted to try other things as well.
I got my first studio at Kelham Island Arts Collective and started using different mediums, painting more with a brush on canvas. That developed into what it is now for my recent show, Beginnings, which is a bit of a mixture.
There’s spray paint, airbrush, acrylic with brushes, and I use crayon and oil pastels as well. It’s kind of an amalgamation of everything I’ve learned up until now.
What are your creative influences?
Usually my travels are the biggest inspiration for my art. I like to combine everyday life with more exotic places.
I had two different series on the go – one based on references from travelling and photos I’ve taken around the world, and the other focused on home. I’d normally reference foreign buildings and scenery and paint that.
My recent project, Beginnings, is still related to that, but it’s sort of the opposite. After all the places I’ve been, I started thinking about the place where I’ve spent most of my life. It’s very different – quite mundane and ordinary.
But people say that when they travel a lot, they start thinking about home again, where it all began.
Can you tell us more about pulling together Beginnings as an exhibition?
The key themes are home and beginnings. There are a lot of the big paintings I’m used to, but also lots of smaller works that aren’t just paintings on canvas – some have more sculptural 3D elements.
Another theme is the contrast between permanence and change, with the simple forms of houses acting as constants alongside trees, gardens and parked cars that shift over time. Through this, I wanted to reflect the passage of time as well as the persistence of memory.
There are aspects you’ve not seen from me before.
What does the rest of 2026 hold for you?
Now Beginnings is done, the rest of my year will be spent developing the next concept and making work for my next exhibition. I’d like to have one big solo show each year.
I’ll also have pieces in group shows later this year and will be working on some exciting mural projects. In the summer, I’m doing a short painting residency in France with Sheffield artist Kieran Flynn. So there’s loads of exciting stuff going on.
