Graffiti News

Scarborough mural artist Andrew “Rew” Nurse is being remembered for work that connected public images with local clubs, schools and young people. Teesside Live reported on October 28 that his son Jordan had announced his death through his father’s Facebook account the previous day. Nurse worked in tattooing and graffiti as well as running art workshops in the North Yorkshire town.

The tributes offer a view of a local artist’s practice through the people and organisations that used his work. They describe memorial paintings, fundraising prints and artwork on a dance studio’s walls and shutters. Together, these accounts show why a record of street art needs more than a photograph of the finished image.

Scarborough murals for remembrance and local life

Nurse’s reported work included a large poppy for Remembrance Day, a piece commemorating victims of the September 11 attacks and memorials to friends. Teesside Live also describes commissions for local clubs and schools.

Those subjects served different kinds of remembrance. A poppy connects a wall to a shared commemorative occasion; a memorial to a friend has a more personal point of reference.

For street-art documentation, the purpose of a commission is useful information in its own right. Recording the organisation, occasion or relationship behind a painting can explain details that a photograph alone cannot. Nurse’s work, as described in the tributes, moved between commemorative subjects and spaces used in ordinary local life.

Workshops were part of the practice

Nurse also ran graffiti and art workshops for young people. Community group Dads Behaving Madly remembered him as someone who encouraged children and young adults to recognise their creative abilities, particularly when they lacked confidence.

This distinction matters when looking at an artist’s local role. A mural is visible after the painter leaves; a workshop involves time spent making something with other people. The accounts of Nurse’s workshops bring those relationships into a story that could otherwise be reduced to a collection of painted surfaces.

Football prints and a dance studio’s shutters

Scarborough Athletic FC said Nurse had supported the club with his family and had recently collaborated on limited-edition prints that raised money for it. The club also pointed to his football-related murals around the town.

TLC Dance described a different kind of commission. The dance school said Nurse painted its logo on a studio wall and transformed its outside shutters. In its tribute, the school said his work would continue to greet dancers arriving at the building.

These accounts locate the paintings within spaces people return to. Club artwork can connect with supporters; a studio logo becomes part of the entrance to a class.

What the family announced

Jordan’s message remembered Nurse as a loving father and said the family was taking time to reflect.

The tributes leave several connected ways to consider his work: memorial subjects, youth participation and commissions for organisations he knew. Readers exploring other locations through the Wallscape map can use the same questions when looking at a wall: who made it, whom it was made for and how it became part of the place.