Guests enjoyed voting for their favourite murals last year and will have the chance to do it again this year.
Photo by
Shannon Colee
The Rochester Mural Festival be held on Sunday, March 30, to Friday, April 4, from 8am to 5pm.
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Everyone is welcome to watch the artists work or attend the presentation day on Saturday, April 5, to see the final pieces and enjoy food and prizes.
Kristina Greenwood
Albury Wondonga mural artist Kristina Greenwood will be taking part in the Rochy mural festival for the first time this year. Photo: Supplied.
Kristina Greenwood has been working as a mural artist for five years in the Albury-Wodonga area.
She first heard about the Rochester Mural Festival from past participants while taking part in the Sheffield Mural Festival in Tasmania last year.
Ms Greenwood said she was excited to meet the other mural artists and have fun.
“I'm just excited about going down there and hanging out with some of the other artists,” she said.
“They were really lovely, very inspiring and it’s just a really nice community, so I just want to go and have fun.”
Ms Greenwood studied art through Albury TAFE and illustration in Melbourne but fell into mural painting by chance when she created a mural in a demolition home in Mebourne.
Her projects can be seen around Albury-Wodonga, with pieces in local cafes and restaurants, as well as a few that were commissioned by AlburyCity.
She said she enjoyed painting murals because it could change the environment the work was in.
“I personally like plants and more psychedelic stuff, but a lot of the work that I do for clients is more about translating their vision,” she said.
“It’s really fun because you get to change the whole atmosphere of a space and create connection. Just having some colour can really change things.”
Kerry Nicholson
Kerry Nicholson was the winner of the mural festival in 2021.
Photo by
Cath Grey
Kerry Nicholson has made the trip from Toowoomba, Queensland almost every year for the Rochester Mural Festival.
He has been an artist his whole life and has been painting murals for the past 20 years.
Mr Nicholson said it was the organisers and the people he met that kept him coming back to Rochy.
“I just really enjoy it. They’re a good bunch of people and they look after us,” he said.
“I'm actually quite an introvert, but when I'm painting I enjoy it because the people come up and they want to talk about the painting.
“Also the other artists, most of the time (they) speak the same way as I do and they understand the same things as I do.”
On top of Rochy’s festival, Mr Nicholson has attended many other mural festivals in Tasmania, South Australia, New Zealand and around Queensland.
In the past he has gone with very detailed designs and complex themes for his Rochester mural entries.
This year, he will be doing something different and relatable for the audience.
“I’ve picked a very simple concept,” he said.
“In the past I’ve done things that were very complicated ... but not this one, this is very simple, something that people can actually relate to.”
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