Our Bushcare For Bird Habitat project’s new mural has Old Toongabbie all in a twitter.
Although its been well over 2 decades since Bushcare began at the Gallery Gardens Reserve it became clear our Small Bird Habitat project could finally deliver a work of art for public enjoyment. The irony of ‘art-absentia’ at Picasso Crescent has been addressed in recent years with ‘plein-air’ painting days by the City Of Parramatta Art Society, yet until now the natural beauty of the trees was the peaceful aesthetic at play.
In the slow journey to restore areas of dense under–story for Blue Wrens, Pardalotes and Finches, we sought to enhance the untidy concrete culvert with positive ecological messages of wildlife appreciation. Accomplished Street Artist @Badmagpies, aka Karen Farmer and Camo responded to the challenge ‘head-on’ to create her signature ‘proud’ Magpies up large beside the drain, guardians as it were of the smaller wrens that you can discover at closer inspection.
Some of the aerosol painted Magpies are charming with a subtle wry smile, and others glare with red-eyes, as they do, listening in search of insects or just singing in the morning. The beautifully detailed Spotted Pardalote and Superb Fairy Wrens depicted in ‘hand-size’ stencil–art suggest the goals of the bush regeneration to provide a safe–haven for the small bird ‘guilds’ to find nesting, foraging and singing space without the impact of Noisy Minor & Indian Myna birds.
It is exciting to be able to commission artists passionate about environmental standards and this project hopes that our recent ‘cleaning rubbish from the natural stream’ with Plastic-Free Parramatta is embraced more by the community and new aesthetic values are embedded into the locality.
The ‘warbling’ Magpies Mural is a key communications component from our modest Federal Community Environment Program grant through the office of Julie Owens MP Parramatta. City of Parramatta Council have provided approvals for the artwork alongside their own big-budget renovation of the Playground and tennis-courts onsite.
Photography by @mpathesii
Thanks to https://thesocialcanvas.org.au/
