A collective of young artists showed flair by taking off their shoes and painting the background to the mural with their feet.
A collective of young artists showed flair by taking off their shoes and painting the background to the mural with their feet.
Nestled among the trees in the middle of Levin is an art hub desperate to lure budding artists of all ages.
Horowhenua Art Society is doing its best to spark a renaissance and make sure those with an artistic itch know they can have it scratched at their studio and gallery on Bath St.
Horowhenua Art Society recently received a $3500 grant from Horowhenua District Council's Creative Communities fund, which has gone towards different programmes aimed at engaging with all age groups.
HARTS had organised a series of free-for-all mural painting sessions. The current initiative appealed to different generations to draw murals depicting how they see Horowhenua.
Horowhenua Art Scoiety president Marilyn Craig and "Arty Vicki" Millman helped facilitate the intergenerational art initiative at the weekend.
Horowhenua Art Society president Marilyn Craig it was part of a deliberate attempt to boost membership to make sure the society and art scene itself continued to thrive.
"It's to draw people in," she said.
Like all community and sporting groups, it needed to keep one eye on the future when faced with an ageing membership.
The finished mural depicting Horowhenua.
A primary school-aged group at the weekend were given brushes, paints and a large piece of plywood and went to work. Their work was supervised from a distance and they were encouraged to express themselves.
And that they did. At one stage they were using their feet to apply colour as a background.
Tatum Ristow from Waitarere Beach was part of a group of young artists who got creative with their mural.
Craig said there was a danger of a generation missing out in the mural series, though. Pre-school, primary school and adults were all keen to participate and were represented, but solid efforts to engage teenagers had so far met with nil response.
"So far it's yeah ... nah," she said.
Kuku farmer Lindsay Burnell took his granddaughter along to the Horowhenua Art Society but was encouraged to pick up a paint brush too.
They hoped that would all change on Saturday, April 17, with another inter-generational mural painting session. This time all generations would be working together on the same mural.
Horowhenua Art Society's Vicky Millman stocks up Connor Williams, 8, with more paint.
Teenagers especially were encouraged to attend this weekend to make sure their demographic was represented.
The session starts at 12.30pm, at the Horowhenua Art Society in Bath St.
