UCOL students have added to the vibrancy of Whanganui’s streets by painting a mural as part of the inaugural Whanganui Walls street art festival.

Bachelor of Design and Arts students Sonia Forsey, Eva Harkness, Shanna Ashworth were part of a group of seven students chosen to paint a mural during the four day festival.

The festival attracted New Zealand and international artists keen to leave their mark on Whanganui.

Each student was paired with a mentor artist, and given part of a wall on Drews Avenue to paint on.

The students worked with a reduced colour pallete, heavy on blues, so that each of their designs would tie in together.

UCOL student Sonia Forsey says Whanganui Walls was exciting not only for the artists, but also the public.

“It was really fantastic. The awesome thing about it was how many people were watching, and how excited they were about these murals going up in Whanganui.

Sonia says she was excited to be paired with American artist Pat Perry.

“I think the organisers paired students up well with artists who would inspire them.”

“I learnt a lot through the project. Pat gave me lots of really good tips and ideas about composition, and not putting heaps of stuff into your design just because you have a lot of space.”

Sonia’s painting of a woman holding a fish was inspired by the Whanganui River and the need to look after it.

This was Sonia’s first experience at painting a mural, and Pat helped her get her head around taking a small design and making it big enough for the wall.

“I’ve always wanted to do mural painting, but I could never imagine how you would take something small and make it so big on the wall. This project really demystified the process.”

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