by Gabriella Vukman
Beauty, Stamps and some creepy crawlies have burst onto the Ferntree Gully mural scene as a result of a collaborative street art project.
These two new mural artworks can be spied on the wall of Mel’s Beauty Corner, on ‘The Avenue’ in Ferntree Gully.
Both murals are a collaboration between four well known Melbourne street artists. ‘The flower Child’ mural, is collaboration between artists Elizabeth Gleeson and Stampz and the botanical and insect work was created by Manda Lane and N2o.
Hills artist Elizabeth Gleeson said, “Stampz reached out to me one day, having already done a mockup of an artwork that combined both our styles together and asked if I would be happy to create this and put this out into the world somewhere and as you can see the artwork itself is so beautiful, I said ‘yes’ immediately,” Ms Gleeson said.
“Stampz and I have named our artwork ‘Flower Child’ and it comprises one of his signature styles which is to create artwork in a vintage stamp style. This work of a child’s face featuring some beautiful flowers is a bit of a new direction for him,” Ms Gleeson said.
“The border around the work is made up of intricate botanicals with the weaving of gold vines and flowers which lends itself really well to that whole vintage feel and is overall a collaboration between him and myself.”
After scouting for spots, artist Stampz decided to use the bare wall of Mel’s Beauty Corner.
Ms Gleeson said, “Stampz had been scouting walls and it needed to be something where we could ask the business owner if they would be happy to have something on their wall.”
“So we approached the business owner at Mel’s Beauty Corner and asked her if she’s like some actual beautiful artwork on the side of her business wall that faces that laneway because it just keeps getting graffitied over and over,” Ms Gleeson said.
“Stampz lives in Ferntree Gully so he is a local and he really wanted to do something that was quite close and that wall just seemed perfect for it and thankfully Mel was up for having the artwork there.”
For Stampz, working locally was an important part of the collaboration.
Local Artist Stampz said, “Flower Child has so many meanings to me. As a local, working out of a studio in Collingwood and primarily placing my work in the CBD, it was so nice to collaborate with other local artists in our neck of the woods.”
Being a personal project, the artists funded the murals themselves and completed the artworks over the weekend from May 25th to 26th.
Ms Gleeson said, “Mel, the owner of Mel’s Beauty Corner, was so delighted because we said that we would do the mural at our own cost as a personal art project.
“Because the wall was so big, we suggested that some of our artist friends also do some work there and they were super keen to collaborate on a project there as well and Mel was super happy to have that as well,” Ms Gleeson said.
The murals are a combination of the specialisations of each artist.
Ms Gleeson said, “The large mural that is to the left of ‘Flower Child’ by Manda Lane and N20 features bugs and botanicals.”
“N20 really loves doing bugs. She is obsessed with bugs and her brightly coloured, patterned work along the wall ties in with mine and Stamz’s works.”
“Manda Lane who specialises in freestyle botanicals, has done works all over Melbourne and is really well known for them and she has collaborated in this mural by creating a complimentary background for the bugs,” Ms Gleeson said.
The artworks are a mixture of spray and pot paint and artists Stampz and Gleeson employed stencils on ‘Flower Child.’
Ms Glesson said, “Both works were a combination of stencil work and brush painting. Quite complex involvement of stencils on our part.”
“It was a really big stencil with two layers and each stencil had around three sheets of paper each and then N20’s work was lots of stencils where Manda Lane’s was a freestyle of the botanicals.”
The process of painting the murals fostered much community attention and engagement.
Ms Gleeson said, “It was a personal project so it didn’t involve community in the start, but what did happen and what always happens when you are creating street art, is that you get to engage with the community in such a meaningful way.”
“We met so many members of the community who would stop back in each day, again and again to check on the progress and the response was overwhelmingly positive. People just loved it,” Ms Gleeson said.
“The connection with the community that we had whilst we were there was just really lovely and meaningful and it was wonderful to be able to contribute to the Ferntree Gully community,” Ms Gleeson said.
