Mural artist Nick Stuart was blown away by the awesome murals, sculptures and nature of Forbes.
As part of the ongoing and phenomenally successful calendar of youth activities in Forbes, the annual mural activity was planned for the April school holidays at the Forbes skate park. Due to COVID-19, the activity was postponed, and the children were unable to participate in painting the mural.
With the recent easing of restrictions, mural artist, Nick Stuart of Olas One in Newcastle, was in Forbes last week to paint the mural onto the face of the ramp at the Forbes skate park.
“It was unfortunate we couldn’t complete the mural with the children this year,” says Forbes Shire Council Manager Community and Tourism, Nina Hooper. “The kids really engage with projects such as these and the Coronavirus put a stop to us including them in this particular activity this year. Next mural we do will involve everyone.”
“Our Forbes Youth Action Team undertook a series of meetings to ensure the right location and the right type of mural subject was chosen to suit the space of the Skate Park. Consultation was also taken with the local schools to ensure the youth of Forbes were on board with the project. The children all wanted the artwork to be visible and appreciated by the rest of the community.”
Nick has quite a few skatepark murals under his belt and was looking forward to getting the youth of Forbes involved in painting, “I designed the mural in a way that has a fun and carefree feel to it so that the kids would be keen to get involved, unfortunately I couldn’t hold the workshop but I’m really happy to be here,” Nick said.
The giant mural was painted at the skate park from Tuesday, 16 June through to Friday, 19 June with an anti-graffiti sealant applied over the weekend to ensure the longevity of the piece.