Colour on The Wall
On a late summer morning by the river in Kaiapoi, artist Mel Eaton is ready to get to work on the wall of the Cure Boating Club. Local artist, Margot Korhonen, is already painting away – filling the wall with swirling purples and blues. But it’s not just a case of turning up with a few tins of paint and a brush.
“This should be finished in around seven days,” says Mel on the river bank. “But there’s a lot that happens before you can start painting.” And she should know. Along with creative partner, Laura Hewetson, she runs Off The Wall – creating custom mural paintings for residential and commercial premises. They’ve worked in businesses that wanted a unique look to their premises and they’ve worked in homes – even creating a mural for a boy’s bedroom.
“We will do a site visit, measure the space and come up with appropriate designs and ideas for the space,” says Mel. And not all walls are created equal – a smooth concrete wall can be ‘blissful’ to paint on whilst a surface like wood can soak up a lot of paint. All factors that have to be taken into account with murals.
The pair both have a background in art and had worked on community projects together before setting up their business. They both have ‘day jobs’ too – painting murals doesn’t pay the bills unfortunately – like many creative endeavours.
But it does bring colour and community to our towns and that matters.
This latest mural, ‘Pulling Together’, represents rowing but also refers to the project. Mel and Laura worked with their muralist friend Margot Korhonen to get the paint on the wall. And the community pulled together with the Cure Boating Club to raise funds for the mural and rebuild of the clubhouse.
“It represents so many layers of collaboration and working together,” says Mel.
