After a couple of years in the making, we were delighted to formally unveil our water mural this week! A commission from an earlier World Water Day, this large scale, water-themed mural has now been installed – and revealed – on the wall of John’s Kitchen.

As Stephen Leitch (SWE Founder) explains “We are delighted to be here, celebrating the gifting of this water mural to the community of Marlborough – and we hand it over to John’s Kitchen to be its kaitiaki (or guardian) today. We hope this brings enjoyment to John’s Kitchen, it’s visitors and passers-by.”

The mural is made up of four large panels, featuring fifteen images of water in various forms. The entire artwork was painted by local artist,  Gynelle Blake, who is passionate about public art and has worked on other large-scale murals and numerous Chorus boxes around Blenheim. Gynelle says she is “elated” to have it out where the public can enjoy it.

Stephen says “Our intention with this mural was to help beautify our town environment as well as make people reflect on the importance of water to our community – which is a part of our broader community initiative. We want to extend our warmest thanks to Gynelle for the very many hours of blood, sweat and tears she has put into this mural. Her artwork reflects the beauty of the Marlborough environment and the way we as people interact with water in our day-to-day lives. It is truly outstanding and a special gift for the community.”

Yvonne Dasler, Founder and Trustee of Crossroads Marlborough Charitable Trust (the organisation which runs John’s Kitchen) was on hand to witness the unveiling, and said she was “blown away” by the generous gift of the mural. “It links symbolically with what we do, the way everything flows in together…how we care for our land is related to how we care for our people. And it is just a beautiful work of art.”

The mural can be found on the wall of John’s Kitchen (6 Redwood Street – on The Warehouse carpark side). Map link here.

You can also see articles about the mural in

• The Marlborough Express, here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/marlborough-top-stories/119752299/large-scale-marlborough-mural-a-timely-reminder-that-every-drops-counts
• The Blenheim Sun, here: https://issuu.com/blenheimsun/docs/blenheim_sun_200228/8

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We’re happy to be celebrating World Water Day 2016 with a new community project.

This year water will be taking centre stage on the walls of a currently blank wall in Blenheim. One of the themes of World Water Day 2016 is “water is art” – so this year we wanted to take it literally and beautify Blenheim at the same time.

If you follow our story, you’ll know that each year SWE chooses a community-oriented project to celebrate World Water Day. In 2015 it was “The Great Drain Game” resource which the Marlborough District Council Freshwater Educator uses to teach local children about water use and conservation, and in 2014 it was rainwater harvesting at Springlands School.

For 2016 we’ve chosen a large mural on a water theme in a community space in central Blenheim. As Stephen Leitch (our MD) says “we see this as a chance to beautify our town’s environment as well as make people reflect on the importance of water to our community – which is a part of our broader community initiative. We work, live and play in Marlborough. We want to make it a better place for our staff, our clients and our future generations”

We are currently collaborating with other local community groups to finalise the mural location. We are looking forward to announcing the location and getting started on the mural very soon – watch this space!

We are very pleased to be collaborating with artist Gynelle Blake on this 2016 mural project. Gynelle is passionate about public art and has recently worked on two large-scale murals; one at Bohally Intermediate and one at Springlands School. Gynelle’s style varies from the photo-realistic through to the abstract, but an underlying theme of the natural environment runs through all her work and materials. In 2015 she painted native birds directly onto wooden barrel heads for the Garden Marlborough “Barrel of Fun” fundraiser. Gynelle believes every mural is unique, according to the purpose and the location, and that this water mural will reflect the beauty of the Marlborough environment and the way we as people interact with water in our day-to-day lives.

For New Zealand, and for Marlborough, the value of water for our economy, for our environment, and for our people is of increasing importance and it’s something we are pleased to help bring to the community’s attention. After all, “every drop counts”.

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