Ken White is A Swindon-born artist still living and working in the town. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ken carved out an international reputation as a mural artist. There was a time when Swindon’s gable-ends were graced with a number of Ken’s murals. Now only one remains, his first, the Golden Lion Bridge mural – it’s near the Jurys Inn at the top of Fleming Way. But if you want to see more of his murals from Swindon and around the world a good starting point is the retrospective that Angela Atkinson wrote about him and his own website.

It’s unsurprising then, that those planning the totally-tropical themed interior of the Oasis should turn to Ken to paint a suitable mural – sadly painted over in recent years.

Below we see images of Ken’s plans for the mural:

Below is an image of the young Ken White working on the mural, courtesy of Richard Wintle of Calyx Media.

And the mural in situ as the Oasis is under development:

Events posters

It wasn’t only the palm tree mural in the Oasis itself produced by Ken’s artistry. He also created several posters for a wide range of events at the Oasis. Together they from an artistic and pictorial record of a just some of the ways in which the community has benefitted from the Oasis’ facilities – as well as being wonderful retro social history!

Here’s a gallery of them below in no particular order:

And finally …

... related to the Oasis … or indeed any other facility or building in danger of disappearing in the abstract sense: