Bright murals brighten blank spaces at shopping centre

BRIGHTLY coloured murals are bringing former blank spaces to life at Grand Central.

Karri McPherson's work features near L'OCCITANE on Level 1 of Grand Central's Retail Galleria.

BRIGHTLY coloured murals are bringing former blank spaces to life at Grand Central.

Visual artist Karri McPherson is painting two walls in the shopping centre, adding pops of colour to the centre.

Ms McPherson has already completed the first mural on level one of the Retail Gallery near L'Occtaine, and is starting another near Big W.

Grand Central marketing manager Marieke Bridgeman said it was something different for the centre.

"We often feature local photographers' work in our centre, but this time thought it would be nice to get an artist to come in and showcase their talent, which all of our customers can then enjoy," she said.

Ms McPherson grew up in Roma before moving to Toowoomba in 2015 to undertake a Bachelor of Creative Art at the University of Southern Queensland.

She graduated last year but decided to continue with her study this year, pursuing her honours which she will complete in November.

She said the inspiration behind her work stems from her love of both colour and composition.

"Both the universality and timelessness of geometric art is fantastic as it lends itself to various locations," she said.

Karri McPherson's work features near L'OCCITANE on Level 1 of Grand Central's Retail Galleria. Pictured with Marketing Manager Marieke Bridgeman.

"I really enjoy the challenge of creating work that reflects the environment at each site.

"There are endless designs and colour combinations that I am yet to try and I am so excited to continue exploring this style."

The first mural she painted was in Olcott Lane as part of the First Coat Festival in 2017.

"Since then, I've also painted the bar mural at Bar Wunder and three murals in Warwick," she said.

In September, Ms McPherson will fly to Norfolk in Virginia to undertake two large scale murals at the Wyndham Garden Williamsburg Hotel.

After that, she's off to Japan in October as part of a Federal Government initiative where she and nine other USQ art students will be creating artwork in Tokyo and giving an artist talk at TAMA University.

"Once I complete my degree this year, I am planning to undertake artist residencies throughout Europe and continue to paint murals both domestically and internationally," she said.

Ms McPherson's work will complement the public art program put in place by Grand Central during its recent redevelopment.

Ms Bridgeman said there were various artworks in and around the centre.

"We're really proud of the Culture Wall on Dent Street, which features a series of eight artworks representing women at work and drawing on Toowoomba's pride in the numerous social strands that contribute to the fabric of our contemporary Toowoomba community.

"There's also art by Vans the Omega, Rone, Cherie Buttons, Eoin O'Connor, and KAB101 throughout the centre, along with various public art elements in our outdoor community space Central Square.

"If people are interested in having a look at these, they can pick up a Public Art Directory from our Customer Service desk on level one, which will show them exactly where they're located and give a little background to the artwork."
 

Originally published as Bright murals brighten blank spaces at shopping centre