Native birds mural new to Marty Mural Walk

Martinborough wine village has a new wall mural depicting a family of native birds with strong connections to the Wairarapa region.

The new mural has been designed and painted by Manawatu artist Joe McMenamin and is part of the reignited Marty Mural Walk – a continuation of The Martinborough Mural Walk Project that came into being five years ago – a vision by Auriga Martin the then-owner of Ventana Creative collective.

The Martinborough Mural Walk Project brought public art to the village with its variety of colourful works in key locations. But in recent years no new works had been added, until local Charlotte Harding had a desire to reignite the project under its new name Marty Mural Walk.

The first new artwork to come about is thanks to the collaboration between Harding and Wairarapa based business, Tranzit – New Zealand’s largest family-owned bus and coach company.

After receiving funding from Creative Communities, Charlotte approached Tranzit – the owners of a property on the corner of Broadway and Cologne Streets for permission to transform the colourless wall into a beautiful new mural.

Tranzit, who are preparing to celebrate their centenary, thought it was a great opportunity and loved how the muralist wove in their family story into the artwork. The mural features a family of native birds including the Karearea – native falcon – and a white kiwi with a nod to Pukaha National Wildlife Centre, which has a long association with Tranzit.

“Hopefully this will just be the start of growing the mural walk to add to the many things to do in Martinborough Wine Village,” Harding said.

The development of a new map and app likely will also be part of the project.

Check out the new mural on the corner of Cologne & Broadway streets along with original murals featured on Ohio St, Thunderpants HQ Naples St, TK Vineyard, Margrain Vineyard and Neighbourhood Cafe.