Motueka River mural finished

November 9th, 2015
[by David Armstrong]

After three months of planning followed by six months of painting, the mural on Whitwells wall depicting the Motueka River is now effectively complete.

About 24 people over all took part in the painting, which ran from Anzac Day until last Sunday with a break for winter. About eight of them were regular volunteers, while others assisted for perhaps an hour or two on one or two weekends.

The mural was designed by Lower Moutere artist Karin Fruhauf (pictured in the photos), who was also the managing artist at the site. Her task was to not only prepare the initial design but also to supervise what colours went where and assisted amateur volunteers to make their contributions.

She says that although it took a long time and at times was quite demanding work, by the end she was really loving it and glad that she took on the challenge.

For those who have not seen it, the mural shows many of the elements of the river that have meaning to us all. It depicts several activities which are commonplace on the river, such as fishing and kayaking, but also has cultural features which are particularly meaningful to Maori, the original occupiers of this area.

While not attempting to be pictorially accurate, it highlights the importance held by Maori of the link between Mount Arthur and the river, both for water and for stones and shingle. The mural also demonstrates how the fertility and productivity of the land around the river is important to us all.

All the paint used for the mural was donated by Dulux and Guthrie Bowron. Tasman District Council also provided a grant which helped pay for materials and the managing artist's time.

This mural is the fourth in a series which has been commissioned and organised by Vision Motueka. No definite plans have yet been made about any further murals, and Vision Motueka is open to suggestions from other enthusiasts of murals to put themselves forward and continue the activity or take up full design and project management themselves.

Maori and Te Awhina Marae are considering designing and painting a mural depicting the Motueka area as it was before Europeans arrived.

Comment by Mark Wentworth:
[Posted 15 November 2015]

While the new art work on walls looks more attractive than the front of the Whitwells shop, I wonder now if the Whitwells brand will tidy up their frontage as well, as they have the biggest retail frontage in the town, which has looked very tardy and tired for many years now.

Be nice if the whole shop front of Whitwells could lend itself to a facelift, as I see many other shops have tried to uplift their image with new fresh signs and have given a flick of paint here and there to improve their image.

The town shopping area can look very bleak at times, when shop fronts are dull and uninviting, and in this day and age people are doing more shopping elsewhere when shops don't look inviting and fresh, let's start with more shop fronts beefing up an image more in keeping with how proud they are to operate their business, instead of the dreary look some of them have at first glance as you drive past thinking what era is that in, are they shut or open!

Bit of fresh paint has done wonders to some shops and areas as you can see by the latest mural. Let's hope it doesn't get tagged by some clown up town.

>> , to be added to the page. [If this link doesn't work, use this form instead]

[ Return ]
[ Other news articles ]

We wish to thank these local community-minded businesses who generously sponsor our site. They recognise the value of supporting this community asset, and in return Motueka Online is pleased to use and recommend their services whenever appropriate.

Ray White Motueka, Nelson Building Society, House of Travel,
, Steph Wills Dental Surgery, Unichem Pharmacy