Arts Sunday is your extra dose of arts news, artist profiles and photo galleries from the NSW Central West, brought to you by Arts OutWest and Fairfax. Arts Sunday is published online on the first Sunday of the month. If you’ve got a story to share contact artsoutwest@csu.edu.au
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In the 1860s the township of Eugowra, in the NSW Central West, was more use to being held up by bushrangers than by artists.
At nearby Escort Rock, Frank Gardiner and his gang of bushrangers - including the infamous Ben Hall -ambushed and robbed the gold escort coach on its way from Forbes to Bathurst. That history is not forgotten, indeed it’s being recaptured, but these days it’s mural painters and sign writers stopping the traffic in the main street.
The second annual Eugowra’s Most Wanted weekend (May 10-12) will bring up to 70 artists to the small town. They’ll head into the street, brush in hand, to coat the town’s public walls with images
depicting the colonial aspect of Australian life and historic events of Eugowra.
One of the organisers, and
current Eugowra Citizen of the Year, Jodie Greenhalgh, said Eugowra’s Most Wanted Murals was such a success in its first year that organisers wanted to make the second weekend even bigger.
“We have about 50 artists already booked and we are hoping for 70... We want the weekend to have a real carnival atmosphere,” Ms Greenhalgh said.
Artists are coming from far and wide, even two from from New Zealand.
Local artists participating will include Les Quick from Orange, Linda Cowan from Forbes and Brian Petty from Cowra.
This year’s event will coincide with the Annual Letterheads meet, with various traditional sign writing crafts also on display.
“One example is the gold gilding application onto the glass windows at the Café in Nanima Street. Many of our signs around Eugowra will also be getting a facelift with all these talented sign writers in town. As for the murals, they will continue to capture some of Eugowra's rich history and tell our story through beautiful paintings,” said co-organiser Cassie Gates.
Most of the artists will arrive in town on the Friday when they will be allocated a site to work on for the weekend. They’ll be working across five locations: Somerset Lane, the Museum, the Central Hotel and the building adjacent to the Central on Pye Street. During the weekend part of Nanima Street will be closed for the artists to set up their paint tables and start their masterpieces.
It’s not just for the experts though. Saturday there will be sign writers and artists at the Community Room at the Eugowra Sportsground, teaching the children about painting and airbrushing, showing them the tricks of their trade on skate decks. For $25 children will have the opportunity to complete their own skate deck over the weekend with prizes for the best ones.
On Sunday morning all the action will be at the Eugowra Sportsground with over 200 hot rods, classic cars and vintage bikes expected to be on display. Sunday will also include a catered Mother’s Day lunch.
As a big undertaking for a small community, a great deal of fundraising has gone into the project. In addition to local sponsorship the Eugowra Promotion and Progress Association sourced $1800 from the NSW government’s Country Arts Support Program (CASP) which is administered by Arts OutWest. They’ve also launched their own online crowd sourcing campaign to get them over the line. Members of the public can contribute at http://pozible.com/eugowramurals18848.
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