The new Spotlight building now has a little, or rather big, piece of Forbes on it.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 2012 Western Districts Exhibit, winner of the People’s Choice Award, for the Sydney Royal Easter Show now has a permanent home on the wall of the Spotlight building.
The mural, designed by local artist Rosie Johnston, features 15 larger-than-life-size well-known local farmers who represent the essence and diversity of farming in the district.
The farmers are, from left to right, Rosie Johnston, Tom Dwyer, Donald Ridley, Elizabeth Ridley, Les Clarke, Max Ridley, Julie Black, David Black holding baby Adelaide, John Ridley, Keith Markwell, Jo (nee) Mattiske, Tom Green, Caroline Ridley, Jack Ridley, Neil Mattiske, David Earl and Peter Bolam.
The 17 metre wide and three metre long mural is made up of 15 panels, which were layered with different shades of natural wool to create the scene.
The mural was created for the 2012 District Exhibits Competition at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, for which the theme was the Year of the Farmer.
Ms Johnston came up with the idea to keep it simple and do something dramatic, so gathered the group of farmers, mostly her neighbours, together for a photo from which she drew the design.
Then, with the help of her project partner Lizzie Ridley and a group of volunteers including Tom Dwyer and Les Clarke assembled it together by stapling the different coloured wool to each panel.
As they were busy erecting the mural onto the Spotlight building, Les and Tom reminisced about the process of putting it together, which came with its share of difficulties.
“We did a lot of stapling in Rosie’s garage during the floods,” Les said.
“We were told if we didn’t leave we’d be stuck there as the floods were coming up, so we loaded it up and took it to Tom’s and then next thing his backyard was flooded with water.
“We couldn’t get it in or out.”
The mural has travelled all around the region, visiting other shows and will now be a permanent fixture on the Spotlight building after Forbes Shire Council purchased it.
Its new home is quite fitting for the wool mural, with the site being the old saleyards, and Spotlight being a material store.
The mural is visible from the highway and is expected to be a great drawcard for the town.
