Feilding artist Joe McMenamin paints huia mural for residents of Radius Peppertree in Palmerston North

Judith Lacy is editor of the Manawatū Guardian·Manawatu Guardian·

11 Jun, 2023 10:43 PM2 mins to read

Radius Peppertree facility manager Barbara Stewart, mural designer Daniel Webby and artist Joe McMenamin in front of the huia mural. Photo / Judith Lacy

Daniel Webby has given his mother a present that also benefits anyone going down Roberts Line in Palmerston North.

From her room at Radius Peppertree in Kelvin Grove, Gill Webby looked at the blank grey wall of a Chorus building, as did other residents in her wing.

Her son, who has a background in graphic design and is a draftsman by trade, came up with some mural designs.

Being a newer suburb, Kelvin Grove is a relatively blank canvas when it comes to murals, he said.

Peppertree residents were involved in choosing the final design, which features a huia about to feast on some pūriri berries.

The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907 in the Tararua Range.

Webby borrowed the image from ornithologist Walter Buller.

Joe McMenamin's huia mural in Roberts Line, Palmerston North. Photo / Joe McMenamin

Feilding artist Joe McMenamin was hired to paint the mural. One night he projected the design on to the wall with a data projector, traced it and then used Resene housepaint to bring Webby’s design to life. The mural took him about four days.

McMenamin has painted more than 80 murals, many of them of New Zealand birds.

He wanted to make the huia and its surroundings as realistic and detailed as possible.

A close-up of the huia's claws. Photo / Judith Lacy

He lined the horizon in the mural up with the real horizon to make the mural look like part of the landscape.

McMenamin moved to Feilding from Wellington seven years ago. In the capital, he was a secondary school art teacher. Now he is a fulltime artist who teaches some classes.

Most of the funding for the mural came from the telecommunications infrastructure company Chorus.

Peppertree facility manager Barbara Stewart said staff and residents ran bake sales and raffles to raise money for the project.

The next project the aged care facility has in mind is fundraising for planter boxes with native plants to put under the mural.

The location of McMenamin’s other Manawatū murals includes Environment Network Manawatū on Cuba St, Awapuni Primary School in Palmerston North, Lytton Street School in Feilding, and the Coach House Museum.