Award-winning mural unveiled in Rangiora

14 Nov 2023

Artist Mel Eaton has unveiled her award-winning mural titled ‘Floating with Whio’ in Dudley Park, Rangiora, Canterbury. Mel was one of ten winners from across the country who took out the top prize in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful and Resene Nature Mural Competition 2023.

The approximately 36 square metre mural, painted on the exterior of the toilet block in Dudley Park is designed to help raise awareness of New Zealand’s unique biodiversity and the challenges facing it.

“This mural is a peaceful portrait of our native NZ wetland duck, the whio and our connection to the waterways we share”, says Mel. “Floating With Whio is inspired by flowing water and our native blue ko whio whio ducks.”

“This mural has really livened up this area in Dudley Park, Rangiora and makes the skate park, courts and greenspace an even more fun place for our local families to visit.”

The Resene paint colours used in Mel’s mural include Resene Blue Bark, Resene Kitsch, Resene St Kilda, Resene Green Mist, Resene Explorer, Resene Mako and Resene Niagara.

The Resene Nature Mural Competition, which is part of the Paint New Zealand Beautiful programme, ran from April to June. Community members were called on to submit environmentally-themed mural designs to paint on a wall in their local community. Artists from around the country sent in their designs, with the top ten murals selected in June based on their environmental message, enhancement of the community, and originality/creativity. Winners have up to 12 months to bring their mural to life.

Winning designs receive a $1,000 commission upon completion, along with a $750 Resene paint voucher and other materials to paint their mural.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson says: “Our Resene Nature Mural Competition provides a great opportunity for artists to beautify their local communities. The beautification of public spaces greatly benefits communities by increasing civic pride, deterring vandalism, and reducing anti-social behaviour such as littering and graffiti.”

“We were impressed with the dozens of high-calibre entries we received, so much so that narrowing the selection to just ten winners was a tough task! Melisa’s mural is one of the first of this round of winning murals to be fully completed, and we’re thrilled to see the result – we’re excited to watch the other talented winning artists bring their own murals to life.”

Since its inception in 2017 there have been 57 murals commissioned by the programme, beautifying spaces across the country.

The ten winning artists and regions with their designs are visible on the Keep New Zealand Beautiful website. View a map of all the Keep New Zealand Beautiful and Resene Nature Murals here. 

Published: 14 Nov 2023