Published on Friday, 1 November 2024 at 2:04:35 PM
Three vibrant street murals have been commissioned to enhance the liveability of Newman. West Australian mural artists engaged on the three projects, Mel McVee, Tash Alibegovic and Tayla Beynon completed the projects this month.
For Beynon, a self-taught artist her love of the native flora and fauna around her home in Mt Helena, has inspired her work. She has recently completed a mural in Knox Way in Newman.
With temperatures hitting 35-36 degrees, the paint dries quickly.
“When it’s this warm, I have to work early in the morning to get the largest sections of block colour out of the way,” Beynon said.
“People have come past and seen the work develop and it’s been interesting to see how they are really invested in the project now, stopping to chat and see where we are with images, how they are developing and coming to life.”
McVee originally worked as a map maker before joining the Beaufort Street Festival group and working with them on a mural 12 years ago. Her paid artistic expression began in 1999, when she graduated from Curtin University Fine Arts course.
From there, she said, the commissions for murals kept rolling in.
“The first work led to another commission and then another and while I did this work on weekends, suddenly I was getting enough work to do mural art full time,” she said.
McVee also works in sculpture and has completed three public art pieces at the front of the Newman Hospital.
“Flora and Fauna are my go to, I just love it because I grew up in the Perth Hills and next to a National Park so the environment and the native fauna has always been very important to me.”
When the opportunity came to work with artist and Martu Elder Marlene Anderson, McVee was very excited.
“I had to adapt the work from a canvas to the ground at Railway Park and it tells the story of the soak, the water hole where the Martu people drank fresh spring water and where the kangaroo would also gather for water. It has huge cultural significance to the Martu for the kangaroo in the dreamtime, so I had to adapt that for the pathway and honour the work of Marlene, so she was happy with it as well.
“It was challenging to transform the canvas to the footpath, which was long and winding, unlike the square shape it was painted on.”
Marlene Anderson said she called the painting Kun Kun in honour of the waterholes her ancestors walked to, in the desert around Punmu.
Marlene said her Aunty has spoken to her about the site and it was used for drinking water, laundry, swimming, and camels, birds and kangaroos also drank there.
“My parents walked across that desert land, and I go there with Aunty and she’s telling me stories about it.
“She’s been on country 10 days now and it makes her a bit stronger and livelier, because town is not good for her.”
Marlene said she was keen to hear as many stories as she could from Aunty.
“It’s good to get the stories out before she leaves me.”
Marlene said her mural at East Newman’s Railway Park can help to bring Martu families together.
“They can pass the story onto their kids and show the young ones and it’s a good influence and they can learn more and more about the old ways.
“But in Newman it might show them the wrong way but we have to be going forward, we can’t be going back.”
The Lee Lane Mural, funded by the Shire of East Pilbara, was created by Mel McVee and Tash Alibegovic as a part of the upgrade of the town centre and was completed in September 2024. This mural celebrates the native species of fauna, flora and insects of the surrounding area on a starlite night. Lines in the background represent the idea of rambling while linking the artwork together. Within the artwork there are a variety of species both iconic, and unusual - encouraging people to go out and discover the surrounding landscapes.
"The Midnight Ramble" species featured include Wattle (acacia colei var. colei), Spider Flower (areocleome oxalidea), Hancock's Iron Ore Plant (astrotricha hamptonii), Cockroach Bush (senna notabilis), Eremaean Lamb's Poison (isotropis iophyta), Desert Jasmine (jasminum didymum ssp. lineare), Silky Glycine (glycine canescens) and Fanflower (Family Goodeniaceae) with the beloved Bilby (macrotis), Handmaiden Moth (amata chroma) and Flower Beetle (eupoecila inscripta) hiding among them.
Tayla Beynon’s work at Armstrong and Knox Way features the elusive Night Parrot, Whistling Kite’s, the Rainbow Bee Eater and Zebra Finch’s. Along with a number of plants and flowers local to the desert and Newman. Plants selected are of importance to Nyiyaparli People, and are featured in KARLKA Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporations project, Jirntalpa Karnti the Nyiyparli Flora App. nyiyaparliflora.com.au The project was delivered by the Shire of East Pilbara, with funding from BHP.
The red dirt and the wind have proved challenging for the artist, as the work needs to be cleaned before painting can commence and if it rains Beynon said “everything turns red”.
The wind can also blow a lot of sand onto the paint which is not good for the mural.
“So, we can’t really work if it’s a windy day.”
Despite the challenges of working in the hot desert environment, both artists are delighted with the murals and love completing public art.
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