'History of Industry' mural gets finishing touches

March 3rd, 2014
[by David Armstrong]

A day spent adding some final details and signwriting has brought the second Vision Motueka mural to completion after thousands of person hours offered by contributors since last July.

The mural, which tells the story of the history of industry in Motueka using old monochrome photos in a montage, has been left in a 95%-finished state since the end-of-year and then holiday seasons began in November.

Yesterday seven of the roughly 30 volunteer painters who have worked on the mural, spent about six hours completing and touching up the work, watched by a changing audience of surprised and admiring Sunday Market shoppers.

The names of all people who contributed in some way to the painting effort have been written below the mural.

The mural had to be finished also because the third mural in the nine-mural series, a five-year Vision Motueka project, is being planned to commence within about two months.

It will be painted on the southern wall of the Super Liquor wall with the theme 'Horticulture in Motueka'. The design is being finalised in the coming weeks.

The industry mural recognises the contributions (from left to right in the photo at the top of the page) of the timber, fruit and vegetables, hops, tobacco, the port and fishing industries to the making of Motueka.

The mural was produced at minimal cost, with only the lead artists being paid a nominal amount for their project management. Dulux (through Guthrey Bowron) donated the paint, and grants from TDC and the Community Board covered the material expenses.

Andy Lowe, co-owner of Image Creators whose premises are directly behind the mural, created the mural design and helped teach amateur painters the techniques in achieving the various shading and blending effects. He intends to submit the mural to the New Zealand signwriting and mural awards under the "Community" category.

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