Rochester Mural Park
Located off Moore Street, Mural Park features a selection of 2.1m x 4.8m murals created as part of the annual Rochester Mural Festival. New murals are added each year.
The next festival is 30th March - 25th April 2025.
"Wind Goddess rides South" by Lynette Orzowski, Healesville (Winner 2015)
My inspiration comes from the Greek mythology, where gods were the creators of wind, like Aeolus, God and Ruler of the Winds. Here I have created my interpretation of a wind goddess riding forward with her wild horses and as she "rides the wild wind" to the south, bringing forth a cold blast of air with her.
"Changes" by Jon Lam, Mont Albert (Winner 2016)
"The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change" said Heraclitus (534 BC - 474 BC).
According to Eric Hoffer (1891 - 1983), "In times of change learners inherit the earth: while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists".
In my painting "Changes", I echo this philosophy with my antipodean imagery.
"How do you kill a circus? Go for the juggler!" by John Stevens, Echuca (Winner 2017)
The juggler and life under the big top never stops, like the unexpected surprise of a bomb igniting, like romance, religion and death. All is up in the air.
The juggler passes each little joke along to the next as time is squeezed between the curtain calls of life.
Our lives can be hijacked by some clown precariously balancing our fates or fortunes like life's little gambles of the magician producing a Joker or an Ace, or the diversion from reality of a rabbit from his hat. The hobby horse remains stationary as we saddle up for a ring-side opinion on every public issue.
The balancing act of money takes the strength of a strongman to hold onto it, while we leap through burning hoops to make our point.
Clowns never reveal the true self, and we too don our daily masks for friends, family and even to our private self.
"The Superb Lyrebird's Song" by Damian Cazaly, Fitzroy (Winner 2018)
Mother Nature's beauty and bounty is within all of Earth's vast array of life. But out of all of Nature's sounds, there is the most complex song. The Superb Lyrebird is so in tune with its surroundings that it mimics the sounds of the Victorian bush. But the Lyrebird's song is changing as quickly as the Nature surrounding it, adding to its song the sounds of man's destruction. As humankind we need to see the beauty on Nature's face and not the bounty upon her head.
For what, in the end, will be left of the Lyrebird's song?
"Homage" by Kerry Nicholson, Ascot, Queensland (Winner 2019)
To those who came before us.
To the men and women who would fight for those who could not fight for themselves.
To the pioneers of our rights and freedoms.
To the great artist, writers, poets and sports men and women.
And to our home.
Thankyou for our wonderful country life.
"The past and present contemplating the future of spilt milk" by Steve Monk, Bendigo (Winner 2020)
Elizabeth Street beholds an eerie site. A complex of Sci-Fi proportions. Giant tanks and chrome pipes spread around pale yellow buildings. This place, once the hub of the town, now sits abandoned. Past workers with community members, ponder; along with unemployed cows, about their future.
"Imagination" by Kerry Nicholson, Ascot, Queensland (Winner 2021)
We are the clever monkeys who have created our past. Mostly this is because of our imagination.
This will likely continue into the future unless God parks a comet on our door step and if you believe that you have a great imagination.
"Teardrop" by Marco Pennacchia, Brunswick (Winner 2022)
The intense darkness of Death and unheard Love. She is enveloped in the darkness of fear and is seeking the light of strength. The bouquet of new flowers emerging from darkness into light.
"Impossible Dream" by Gren Freeman, Hobart (Winner 2024)
I have a dream, a seemingly impossible dream. To remove the harmful things from the world, do away with greed and hunger, war and ignorance, caring and sharing for all living things, and that one day the whole of our earth will be united in its thinking. I am sure I'm not the one who has this seemingly impossible dream.
These murals were also displayed when we visited in late 2024.
"Forget-me-not" by Judy Sens (2020)
The closure of the once thriving Murray Goulburn factory has devastated the entire community of Rochester. We will never forget the once vibrant factory and dairy industry that has been washed of colour, as though shot by assassins, and left to die.
"Dream unveiled" by Marco Pennacchia, Brunswick
"Dream Unveiled" symbolically portrays humanity's interconnection through a flowing drapery, transitioning from intense orange to night's blue. It captures harmony and peace in life's dark phases, echoing my dream of a united world radiating light and devoid of hatred.
"Like seed dreaming beneath the snow, Your heart dreams of spring" by Ana Armillas, Hawthorn
Ana's art practice is shaped by the concepts of light, metamorphosis and growth - often using metaphors inspired by nature.
"Glitched" by Chris Duffy, Bendigo
A glitch in a beautiful dream that has still not been realized. A painting of human rights activist Martin Luther King & artist model Paige as femme fatale... She represents the artist.
"Sweet sweet surrender" by Kerry Nicholson, Queensland
In a realm where time flows backwards she has found happiness and she is finally at peace
"The Drover's dream" by Maryann Jenkins, Echuca
The Drover's dream - an iconic Australian verse. The drover and his dogs fall asleep. His dream features a very strange procession... a kangaroo with his swag of blanket blue, the pelican doing a highland fling and a bandicoot playing the flute. His boss calls "Hey Dreamy! Where the hell are all the sheep?"
"Land of Promise" by Helen English, New Zealand
The story of a mermaid with the courage to leave the ocean for a new life, on a shore bathed in the promise of a rising sun. She symbolises our pursuit of self-discovery, happiness and the embracing of new beginnings.
"Livin' the dream" by Steve Monk, Bendigo
A dream of wealth with all its cliched associations; a castle for a home; a trophy wife; a personal bodyguard; a caravan filled with gold; extreme machines; exotic pets and a spoilt brat.
"Birdies got Talent" by Christina Rankin, Rochester
I sat back and thought long and hard about what kind of song I would paint for the Rochester Mural Festival, and while I was sitting out in my yard thinking long and hard, I could hear a bird singing. I remember thinking to myself "'Wow, that bird's got talent!"
Photos:
Location
Moore Street, Rochester 3561 Map
Web Links
→ Rochester Mural Festival on Facebook
→ www.rochestermuralfest.com.au
→ Ron Iddles Mural
→ Rochester Silo Art
