Kindy kids help paint town mural

HELEN MURDOCH

PAINTING CREW: Pinegrove Kindergarten children work on the Brightwater Domain mural under the eye of artist Marie Greeks.

Pinegrove Kindergarten's budding artists got to paint the trees and grass of a mural marking the town's history which will adorn a walkway wall near the village's domain.

But they missed out on painting Robert Ellis's three chickens, which were out of reach.

The young artists will be among a number of community and school groups invited to daub the wall under the tutelage of former art teacher Marie Greeks.

Brightwater Community Association chairwoman Dorothy Rogers said the idea for the mural came from the kindergarten, which looked out to the once white two-storey wall.

"The project's been in the pipeline for a couple of years. We secured the funds this year and found an artist who lived locally." Dorothy said the mural commemorated the town's history.

"We had a railway going through and the old girl's school, the malthouse, St Paul's Church and the Robert Ellis's mill which ground flour during the day," she said.

"At night his chooks would turn the town's lights on when they hopped on their perches and off when they jumped down at dawn."

Marie said she had never taken on a job as big as the mural before and had researched old books and photographs for the detail. She hoped to have it completed around New Year.

- © Fairfax NZ News