Arts trail for Upper Hutt
A city street will be transformed into a gallery full of colours, textures, shapes and images when artists take over Upper Hutt’s CBD.
From Saturday to December 19 The Paved Canvas arts trail will showcase bright public displays.
Vibhuti Chopra, Upper Hutt City Council’s director of strategy, partnerships, and growth, says there is still a lot of unease because of the global pandemic, and they wanted to encourage people to head back outside with an artistic event that was ‘‘colourful, interesting and engaging’’.
The trail runs the length of the city’sMain St shopping precinct – dipping into shops displayed out on the street, and featuring 18 works by local artists.
Artist Alina Gane-Hurcomb said one of the worst things about lockdown was being stuck indoors.
She thought the trail was a good way to get out of the house, and do something enjoyable and different.
Gane-Hurcomb will be working on the street to create a 3-D chalk mural of the Hutt River that stretches across a building and the footpath.
Completing the work in public on the opening day was a good opportunity for people to get a glimpse of how an artwork is created. ‘‘Often people are more interested in the process than the final work,’’ the Stokes Valley artist said.
Upper Hutt artist Bruce Winter’s Bell Tower, a style of work he describes as an ‘‘assemblage’’, is the first stop on the trail. He was only too happy to lend his work to the project.
Local artists didn’t have many opportunities to display their work in their hometown and The Paved Canvas was an excellent opportunity to give them exposure, he said.
‘‘Hopefully it inspires other people to become creative – creativity is good for the general health of society.’’
Both Winter and Gane-Hurcomb pointed to the success of the Ka¯piti Arts Trail, which is in its 20th year, saying they hoped the event could be reprised and grow in the future.
The Paved Canvas launches on Saturday and runs through to December 19. The artworks are along Main St, Upper Hutt. Visitors will be able to experience artists at work, face-painting and fire performances on opening day.