Big Picture Festival locks in three mural artists for September

The festival will run September 27-29, with five large-scale murals being created in Newcastle's central business district.

The first major artist for the festival is Sophi Odling, who has created murals around the world, including Ireland, Italy, England the US, of course, in her hometown of Sydney.

Odling, who spent 14 years in fashion before turning her attention to visual art, focuses "on the beauty amongst the chaos in our everyday lives. The vivid narratives reflect human behaviours, environments and cultures that she encounters."

The two local artists are Melody Suranyi and Daniel Gould. They were selected by a panel of three Newcastle creatives - Sally Bourke, Shane Kennedy (Tunz), Wednesday Sutherland - and Joel Van Moore (Vans the Omega), who is the founder of the Big Picture Festival.

More artists will be announced in the coming weeks.

Big Picture Festival is held every two years in Newcastle, and other cities around Australia. In Newcastle, it has been a major visual sign of the changing nature of the city, with large-scale murals making an instant, and long-lasting impact on the look and feel of the city.

Artists involved in the 2020 and 2022 festivals included Rosie Woods, Deams, Claire Foxton, Michael Black, Georgia Hill, Goya Torres, James R Ellis, Fintan Magee, Mitch Revs, Vans the Omega, Ellie Hannon, Inari and Bronte Naylor.

The festival has always included a mentoring component.

One of the most important aspects of Big Picture is the murals are done for the sake or art, and not driven by commercial interests, no matter the ownership of the property where they may be painted.

"The value of art is so great, we keep skating over it I think," Newcastle Big Picture Festival director Kat Skoumbas said. "And if you can stay still enough to realise just how important it is to take it into your every day, I think it's really powerful.

"So being able to connect people through art can lead to so many things, but one of the most simplest things is that it brings joy, it brings beauty, and connection is something that we have lost over the years.

"So these big, imposing artworks, whether you like them or not, it doesn't matter: it's the fact that people are connecting over them that really strikes me as fascinating and important for community."

Selected artist Daniel Gould said, "As we move out of winter and into spring, I aim to bring in some fresh seasonal energy to the Big Picture Fest by using a colour palette that reflects the changing of the seasons."

"Being picked is giving me the opportunity to showcase my work at a large scale close to home in Newcastle."

Melody Suranyi said, "I have been following along with the Big Picture Festival since I moved to Newcastle in 2019 and have loved watching Newy being transformed into a vibrant creative hub!

"I am over the moon to be able to contribute to the art scene in my favourite city and home and be involved in the fantastic creative community here."

The festival had a head start this year, with Bathurst-based artist Calum Hotham painting a mural on the old Electrodry building on the corner of Nelson and Boscawen streets in Wallsend to help that community celebrate it's 150^th birthday. The mural was based on a collection of photos exploring identity by Newcastle photographers Melanie Muddle and Hannah Robinson.

Sponsors for this year's festival include the City of Newcastle, Auspicious Arts Projects, Newcastle Permanent, the University of Newcastle, Night Quill, Quest West Accommodation, Access Hire, MTN Australia, Painting by Josh and Dulux Australia.