The Seaside Festival is coming up this weekend and Alive Vibrant Timaru and Timaru Civic Trust are looking forward to people giving spray-paint art a go.
They will have their container at the Hydro Grand site with plenty of spray cans for the public to try their hand at painting on a blank wall.
Timaru Civic Trust artist Lynne Kerr said they have been placing murals around the Timaru CBD for the past five years.
‘‘We have artist Koryu Aoshima painting a mural currently and he will be here all week and throughout the festival.’’
Street art had become a part of New Zealand culture and they would like to see Timaru follow suit.
‘‘The CBD is all about the human input . . . and we would like to excite people to move around and be a part of this city — that’s why we’re doing it.’’
The owner of the building, Graham Wilson, and his colleagues were excited the mural was being created, Ms Kerr said.
‘‘Their ethos reflects the building’s name, Manawa Ora, which means breath of life.
‘‘We have noticed that various groups in town want to breathe life into the CBD.’’
Timaru Civic Trust architect Josh Newlove said they had another two murals they would like to create soon.
‘‘The Timaru Civic Trust is a big supporter of this and we’re celebrating our heritage building and the character of our streets.’’
Aoshima said he planned to have the mural done by the end of this week.
Over the last year he had completed 15 murals around New Zealand.
‘‘I have a background in graphic designing but when I was young, I wanted to do art stuff but didn’t think too deeply about it — it seemed impossible maybe, especially in Japan.’’
He started his street-art journey when he arrived in Australia after being inspired by the streets.
One of his first commissions was a mural for a child’s bedroom.
‘‘They were so impressed. At that time I realised that my art can make somebody happy.’’
The mural was inspired by the building’s name as well as New Zealand nature.
He asked people what they enjoyed when talking about concepts for the mural.
‘‘I only see it once really while everyone else sees it every day, so I don’t want to make something that people will be bored looking at.’’
People are encouraged to view the process of the mural over the week and to have a go at spray-painting at the Seaside Festival.
“The CBD is all about the human input . . .and we would like to excite people to move around and be a part of this city — that’s why we’re doing it.”
