Micaela van den Berg's award-winning mural that adorns the wall of Dargaville Library and was one of 10 winners of the Keep New Zealand Beautiful's Resene Nature Murals Competition. Photo / Supplied
Micaela van den Berg's award-winning mural that adorns the wall of Dargaville Library and was one of 10 winners of the Keep New Zealand Beautiful's Resene Nature Murals Competition. Photo / Supplied
A desire to make something bright for her home town and its library has seen Northland artist Micaela van den Berg take out a top prize in a national mural competition.
Van den Berg unveiled her new award-winning mural, titled 'Sunrise', in a small ceremony at the Dargaville Public Library last week after it was one of 10 winners from across the country which took out the top prize in Keep New Zealand Beautiful Resene Nature Murals Competition 2022.
The library held a small ceremony with a formal blessing, to bless both van den Berg's mural and an existing "He Tohu o Ngā Hau e Whā" artwork, that was created for the building in 2007 by Manos Nathan.
The new mural, which features a tui atop harakeke/flax with a stylised sunrise in the background, graces a full exterior wall of the Dargaville Library, Northland and faces one of the town's main roads.
Her inspiration for the design was to make something bright for her town as well as her local library.
"I adore libraries and our one is truly incredible with some amazing, wonderful staff who make this public space such a pleasure," van den Berg said.
"There is quite a strong community of photographers here, and I see so many beautiful photos of the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets over the Wairoa River and Kaipara hillside."
Her mural is a tribute to that, with an iconic New Zealand songbird to herald it.
Dargaville artist Micaela van den Berg with her mural Sunrise on Dargaville Library. Photo / Supplied
"It's about bringing the community together, and giving them something to smile about." In a post on its Facebook page, library staff said they were excited to have the mural on the building, and hope it inspires many more local creatives to make their artistic mark in town.
''Thank you, Micaela and your team for all your dedication, vision and hard mahi. Thank you to the Nathan family for joining us in the celebration of recognition for Manos' artwork and to (KDC iwi relations manager) Jack Rudolph for conducting the blessing,'' the post said.
It has received only positive comments, with people wowed by the mural and its design. Van den Berg used a large selection of Resene paint colours including Crusoe (a deep green), Sunrise (orange/peach), Jalapeno (deep maroon) and Banana Split (bright yellow).
In total she used nearly two dozen separate colours, from test pot size to full tins of paint, to create the mural.
Winning designs receive a $750 Resene paint voucher and other materials to paint their mural, and receive a $1000 grant upon completion.
The new mural on Dargaville Library is proving a popular addition to the town. Photo / Supplied
Keep New Zealand Beautiful chief executive, Heather Saunderson, said: "Our Resene Nature Murals Competition provides a great opportunity for artists to beautify their local communities.
In its sixth year, this competition continues to grow in popularity and we're always so impressed with the calibre of entries we receive that narrowing down the selection to just 10 winners is getting harder and harder. We're so excited to see these murals come to life, knowing how the beautification of public spaces greatly benefits communities by increasing civic pride and deterring vandalism and anti-social behaviour such as littering and graffiti."
