River-themed mural ready to begin

February 11th, 2015
[by David Armstrong]

Work has begun on the next Motueka mural, themed "Our River (Te Awa)", on the Whitwells Menswear wall.

The fourth in the popular series of large murals telling the stories of Motueka, this one will be painted by volunteer painters over the autumn months under the direction of the mural designer, Lower Moutere-based Karin Fruhauf.

This week the wall was waterblasted and received an undercoat (pictured, right), and the top base coat of white will be applied by a crew from the Corrections Department on Saturday.

As with the other murals, all paint is being supplied for free through Dulux and Guthrie Bowron Motueka.

The mural will be painted on the half of the wall closest to High Street, and the rest of the wall will receive a top coat of a colour that will complement the major colours of the mural.

The painting (drafted above) will depict the river from its source in the Golden Downs pine plantation down to the SH60 bridge and then the river mouth, with different colours to show the four seasons.

Along the way, a set of detailed pictures will be included showing common activities on the river, including fishing, kayaking, swimming, whitebaiting and other popular pastimes.

The mural is the fourth in the series of large murals organised and paid for by Vision Motueka, telling the stories of our town. Apart from the mural designer and site manager, all painters and helpers are volunteers.

Actual painting is planned to be started on the weekend starting February 20th, and Vision Motueka is appealing for anyone who wants to help to come to the wall and get a brush.

You don't have to have any expertise in painting or artistry - with Karin's help and guidance you will be able to paint your part. Anyone wanting to help at any stage should text David on 8, so they can get messages about what days painting will be happening.

Vision Motueka says it is grateful for the help from Shane and his team at Whitwells, who have provided encouragement and a lock-up shed for the equipment and materials.

Comment by Mark Wentworth:
[Posted 18 February 2015]

It's a pity the whole of the building frontage which occupies nearly 50 meters of road frontage isn't painted as well, and not just the side of the building, I don't think its seen a coat of real paint, or even been washed down or had its verandah lights fixed, along with thousand of spider webs removed in the last 15+ years.

An iconic store looking very very sad indeed, this shop should be the forerunner of the town in crisp appearance if it wants to stay in business, and look alive and attractive to enter, and that's just the outside.

Many of the other town building owners have had a go at updating or freshen up their building and rod frontages, this one is very tired, run down and a Mural will really makes the rest of it look an even bigger eyesore than it already is.

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