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Paint a mural with Steph Cartledge during Wall to Wall Murray Bridge

The New South Wales street artist gives an insight into her practice as she prepares to paint one of five new murals as part of a street art festival on April 12-14.

Peri Strathearn

Apr 3, 2024 — 4 min read

This sponsored story is brought to you by Murray Bridge Regional Gallery.

Stephanie Cartledge poses with one of her paintings, of a yellow-tailed black cockatoo. Photo: Supplied by Stephanie Cartledge.

If you’ve ever wanted to paint a mural, your chance is coming up.

Five street artists will create five new works around Murray Bridge’s CBD during Wall to Wall Murray Bridge, a street art festival coming up on April 12-14.

One of them, New South Wales’ Stephanie Cartledge, will even let you join in.

Her geometric style lends itself to a paint-by-numbers approach – so, if you show up to the Independent Learning Centre on Seventh Street during the festival, you can pick up a brush and have a go.

“It’s something I’ve done before,” Cartledge says.

“People can contribute easily: I’ll have a colour swatch and you can paint within the outline I draw.

“It’s such a nice way to get in touch with locals and get the community involved, and show people it’s a viable career to do murals or be an artist.”

*Bush Blooms*, a mural at a shopping centre in Ballarat, is typical of Stephanie Cartledge’s style. Photo: Stephanie Cartledge/Juddy Roller.

Cartledge’s mural will feature some of the wildlife that lives in the River Murray: a Murray cod, a yabby and so on.

Native animals and plants have become a staple of her artistic practice since she transitioned out of a career in graphic design several years ago.

“Sometimes the native animals in a certain area, especially if there’s something vulnerable or close to extinction, it’s good to highlight them and put them in front of people,” she says.

Festival will culminate in a Sixth Street party

Cartledge will not be the only artist working in Murray Bridge’s CBD during Wall to Wall Murray Bridge, of course.

Also featured will be:

Smug (Scotland) at Murray Bridge Regional Gallery on Sixth Street
DREZ (Victoria) at the Edwards Square sound shell
Sofles (Queensland) at the Murraylands Skills Centre on Bridge Street, on the Bridgeport Hotel car park side
Justine McAllister (Victoria) at the Salvation Army thrift shop on Fourth Street

A highlight of the festival will be a street party on Sixth Street from 12-5pm on Sunday, April 14, with free all-ages activities, live music, food trucks and more.

Multidisciplinary collective The Bait Fridge will guide you through a range of assemblage techniques, using found and recycled materials, to build costumes, boats, props and instruments for a giant regatta parade.

Bring your own tote bag, T-shirt or other garment and you can learn how to screen-print a limited edition Wall to Wall Murray Bridge design on it, inspired by entries in a silo art drawing competition, and take it home with you.

You’ll even be able to try out aerosol painting with tips, tricks and techniques from street artists Jeremy Morrison and Taneisha, then join in the creation of a collaborative mural.

Try your hand at aerosol panting, build costumes and props from recycled materials with The Bait Fridge collective, and bring a tote bag or T-shirt to screen-print it with an original design by The Bait Fridge free of charge. Photos: Rural City of Murray Bridge, The Bait Fridge.

Guided tours of the five mural sites will be on offer at 1pm and 3pm on both the Saturday and Sunday.

There will even be special art walks for children under the age of 12 during the first week of the school holidays.

The whole thing will kick off with a launch event at Murray Bridge Regional Gallery on Friday, April 12.

Cartledge says she looks forward to meeting the people of Murray Bridge when she comes to visit.

“I’d love to have a chat with the locals, see what they think of the wall, and it will be exciting to see the other walls,” she says.

“I’ll try to make mine pretty.”

Wall to Wall Murray Bridge will be presented by the Rural City of Murray Bridge and Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, in partnership with Juddy Roller and with support from the federal government’s Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand Fund.

More information: www.murraybridgegallery.com.au/wall-to-wall.
Register for the launch event: events.humanitix.com/wall-to-wall-murray-bridge-launch-2024.
Register for a street art workshop: events.humanitix.com/wall-to-wall-street-art-workshops.
Register to help create a community mural: events.humanitix.com/wall-to-wall-collaborative-murray-bridge-community-mural.
Register for a guided tour: events.humanitix.com/wall-to-wall-guided-tour.
Register for a children’s mural tour: events.humanitix.com/school-holidays-activity-kids-guided-art-walk.

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