Budding artists wanted for fishy mural

Do you want to leave your mark on the West?

Project Twin Streams and Westfield WestCity want people to make an artistic contribution to an innovative community art project - a 26-metre long mural at Westfield’s shopping centre in Henderson.

People are invited to decorate a ceramic fish at a shopping centre workshop on Saturday 11 or Sunday 12 September, while enjoying live entertainment and live weta and eel displays. You can also plant a native tree on the stream bank outside the centre on Saturday.

Your work will be added to the mural, made up of a mosaic stream embellished with hundreds of ceramic fish and stream creatures surrounded by a bush backdrop with people, birds and insects.

“This is a great chance to tap into your creative juices. The workshops provide an interesting way to learn how we can all make a big difference to our local environment by making small changes to the way we live,” says Waitakere Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse.

“The completion of this magnificent mural will provide a vision of the future we can all aspire to.”

One of the largest community art projects to be undertaken in Waitakere, the finished work will be placed on an exterior shopping centre wall on Edsel Street alongside the Oratia Stream where Westfield WestCity has undertaken extensive replanting and restoration of the stream bank.

The concept was developed by children from Sunnyvale Primary, Holy Cross School, Bruce McLaren Intermediate, the Armour Bearers’ Youth Group and Way Out West, a special needs adult group.

Over 700 children and adults will be involved in the creation of the artwork and every contributor will be invited to the official unveiling ceremony in early 2011.

The completed mural will be maintained by Westfield WestCity shopping centre.

What: Project Twin Streams Community Mural Workshop
Where: Westfield WestCity Shopping Centre, Henderson
When: Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 September, 10am – 3pm

About Project Twin Streams

Project Twin Streams is a council-community partnership which aims to restore 56km of Waitakere stream banks through an integrated community development approach.

Through the engagement of local communities, the stream banks are weeded, replanted with natives and maintained.

As well as building strong relationships with locals in the Waitakere catchment area, the project aims to raise awareness of stream pollution and how to combat it, through sustainability initiatives that continue to be focused through the artistic endeavours of local schools, communities and iwi.

Project Twin Streams contributes to Waitakere City’s Green Network of bush corridors, clean streams, parks and cycle and walk-ways that criss-cross the city and link the Ranges to the sea.

The project is principally funded by Auckland Regional Holdings (a subsidiary of Auckland Regional Council) with additional resourcing from Waitakere City Council.

The council manages the project and contracts a wide range of community organisations to work with residents and groups in their area. They organise community plantings and work with groups, businesses and schools who adopt specific areas. This means that local organisations with local knowledge are the driving force of the project.

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