GETTING caught drawing on walls with a marker pen is one of the best things that ever happened to Dave Eardley.

Dave was 13 when he got into graffiti art through the hip hop movement in 1984. It was not long before he got in trouble with the police – but that actually turned into a positive experience when he was offered a more productive way to channel his energies.

The 45-year-old, who is now better known as Graffiti Dave, said: “I’d been in trouble a couple of times in my youth. I’d been arrested and fined for criminal damage. When that happened the police actually put me onto my arts officer in Chester who made me realise I had a talent that could be used in a far more productive way.”

Dave’s enthusiasm at a series of art workshops shone through which eventually led to part time work as a youth support worker. He then became a teaching assistant at a special needs school.

Now Dave hosts his own street art workshops, specialising in typography, which have been running since 2001.

He added: “It was a negative but I’ve definitely turned that round by making a living out of it and giving something back to the community.”

Dave’s latest project, Literally Murals, is currently being exhibited in Warrington. The artist met with a number of residents from the town who are housebound due to physical or mental health issues.

With street art being about self-expression and getting your message seen, they were invited to communicate their thoughts using words that are important to them.

Dave said: “We’d discuss the project, I’d show them my work, they’d tell me a bit about themselves and what got them through the hard times. Words started coming out of it like love, family, strength and respect. It was pleasure going into people’s homes. I took all my supplies with me as part of the project was creating small scale artwork where they live. I did miniature pieces of graffiti on old vinyl records.”

Then, ideas were developed for the 11 pieces which are featured in the exhibition at Warrington Museum. These larger pieces were made by Dave but the words, colour schemes and typographical styles were all chosen by the residents during the eight-day project.

Dave has previously collaborated with Warrington Museum and can count Derek Dick, Culture Warrington’s outreach and engagement manager, among his fans.

Dave added: “He thought it would be a great platform to give the residents a voice. Hats off to Warrington Museum for being forward thinking and taking a chance on it. I guess it’s quite gamble for them because of all the negative connotations graffiti has. Hopefully we’ve proven to people it can be a very useful tool as well. I love doing community work. That’s where I think graffiti can be most useful. It can be used in some really good, innovative ways if people can be open-minded.”

Dave’s life might have been very different if he had not picked up that marker pen when he was influenced by the hip hop scene.

He said: “I’d have preferred to have been a break dancer but I was far too shy. I couldn’t afford the equipment to be a DJ so I decided to get a marker pen and start drawing.

“Graffiti was the only option left to me really. I stuck with it and it’s taken me all over the world. I’ve painted in Lithuania and Latvia many times and gone to Toronto for big international events. It’s taken me out of my little council estate in Chester to seeing parts of the world that I never thought I’d see.”

n Literally Murals is at Warrington Museum until March 25. To compliment the exhibition, work by contemporary street artists Swoon, Elbow-Toe, Adam Neate and Blek le Rat is also on display at the other end of the gallery