Raglan’s water reservoir facelift is underway and the community are invited to pick the creative brains of local muralist Theo Arraj as he tackles the mammoth project.
Theo will down tools on Tuesdays for an hour to answer questions and chat to the community about his design and the process of bringing his concept to reality.
Whāingaroa Raglan Destination Management Organisation (WRDMO) project facilitator Jacqueline Anderson knows there will be a lot of interest from Raglan locals and visitors to town in the public artwork.
“We want to provide an opportunity for people to find out about Theo’s visions for the mural and learn about what it takes to bring it to life,” she says.
“The project is expected to be completed before Christmas and being mindful that Theo needs to crack on with his work without too much interruption, these Q&A sessions will provide a chance for both locals and manuhiri to become engaged with both the artist and mural as it unfolds.”
Chosen from 17 artists from across the country, Theo’s mural won the hearts of the community advisory panel tasked with choosing a design to feature on the prominent site.
Theo has an extensive body of mural work, but this will be his largest ‘canvas’ and says he is excited to contribute in a lasting way to the town’s culture.
“I wanted to pay homage to aspects of the old mural and to the whakapapa of this whenua (land), and to celebrate what I feel Raglan/Whāingaroa is energetically,” he says.
He hopes that what he has captured in his design will speak to everybody in some way.
“I want people to feel what they feel and not be told what something means. Sometimes it’s even just the colours people relate to or it might be that someone has their own story about a certain aspect of a design.”
A self-taught artist, Theo forged his art career in the counter-culture of graffiti.
“A lot of the time I was out in the middle of the night, in train tunnels and under bridges, and I think that actually helped me in terms of producing things fast,” he laughs.
As a 17-year-old, he scored his first commissioned job painting a wall mural in a Kāpiti Coast bar.
“It just kept growing from there, and I would do people’s garage doors or walls in people’s gardens, and I worked with the Kāpiti council doing workshops with youth. I just became obsessed with it and I feel if you want to create it into a job, you have to live and breathe it.”
In 2017, Theo was commissioned to do his first large-scale mural on a two-story building on the Kāpiti Coast, and since then he has been kept busy around the country working on murals of all sizes.
His process begins with transferring the main elements of his design onto a series of grids. Theo then brings the mural to life using a combination an airless paint sprayer, brush, roller and spray paint.
“The different methods will look cool because it creates different textures.”
Spearheaded by the WRDMO, the mural is a community-led project which will see the reservoir receive its first new mural in more than 20 years.
Feedback from a community survey was used in the selection of the artist and design. All the elements identified as important to the community – wai (water), ocean, nature and people – have been incorporated into the new mural.
Extensive before and after video drone footage and photographs of the project will be preserved online. A series of signs will be installed to share the history of the water tower, tell the story of the original artists and explain the new mural.
Thanks to funders WEL Energy Trust, Progressive Property and Waikato District Council, and Raglan Naturally Community Trust for support with funding from the Department of Internal Affairs Community-Led Development Fund.
Dates for Q&A with Theo at the water reservoir
• Tuesday, November 12, 11am-12pm
• Tuesday, November 19, 11am-12pm
• Tuesday, November 26, 11am-12pm
• Tuesday, December 3, 11am-12pm
• Tuesday, December 10, 11am-12pm
• Tuesday, December 17, 11am-12pm
For further information contact jacqueline@raglanihub.nz.
