NZ MURAL TOWN

Katikati is recognised as New Zealand’s Mural Town and today the town boasts an open-air art gallery of over 70 outdoor arts, sculptures and carvings.

The first mural produced in 1990 was the “Waitekohe School” after a group of locals were inspired by a small town called Chemainus, on Vancouver Island in Canada. The logging town had been suffering after the closure of its one timber mill, so it had set about painting its history with quality murals on the walls of the town. These frescoes recorded both the diversity of the community, the cultural heritage that contributed to this diversity, but also the history of the place and the environment. Ten years later the town had prospered through this community initiative with 300,000 visitors annually.

Katikati had been facing a similar dilemma after the share market crash, the kiwifruit industry was in crisis and there were 32 empty shops and businesses in the town.

Under the management of Katikati Open Air Art, artworks kept on appearing in Katikati and by the end of 1996, 21 works had been completed and still more were in the pipeline.

Katikati Open Air Arts aim is to portray, in a highly visual way, Katikati’s own special historical past. The town was to become a unique living work of high-quality open-air artworks, accurately portraying major aspects of its history making it a more interesting, exciting place, and that would attract people to live and visit.

Visit Katikati Open Air Arts website for more information here To view maps of the Murals visit here.