School initiative brings colour to community

Last Saturday the Sunnynook community on Auckland’s North Shore hosted a ‘Painting in the Car Park’ day, which involved artists from Sunnynook and surrounding suburbs creating murals for the grey walls of the Sunnynook Bus Station.

The artists created works based on criteria gathered from the Sunnynook Community, and they form a timeline of 12 murals altogether.

The initiative was organised by Fleur Knight and Rebecca Baird from Murrays Bay School and originated from a safety audit Rebecca’s students conducted on Sunnynook Bus Station. During their audit, the students made recommendations for how the Sunnynook Bus Station could be improved.

Their audit recommended that the toilet door be made easier to open, that access to the stormwater drain was too easy for taggers and that the grey walls of the bus station were “lifeless”. After presenting to Auckland Council on these recommendations the students surveyed local residents and businesses, to find out whether the Sunnynook Community wanted murals, and how the murals could depict the culture of Sunnynook.

During their survey the students from Murrays Bay School found out that not only did the residents and businesses want murals, they were also prepared to fund the initiative.

Local artists such as Jarod Murray, Alastair Blain and Hayley Garcia joined forces with artists from Murrays Bay such as Sue Jamieson, Monica __ and students from room 25 at Murrays Bay School. The artists created artworks in the car park outside the Countdown Supermarket in Sunnynook.

This initiative was also supported by the Sunnynook Community Centre and generated interest from local businesses, who funded resources to make the day possible.

Countdown Supermarket helped with advertising, a venue and refreshments for the artists. Mitre 10 Mega supplied the plywood. Guthrie Bowron provided all the paint, and Bunnings Constellation Drive supplied polyurethane.

The murals will be presented to the Auckland Council and will be part of the Sunnynook landscape for years to come.