Sheffield Tasmania murals is really what Sheffield is famous for. It’s our local little town only 8 km from Glencoe Country B&B and is known as a hub for local artists with two galleries. Admire more than 140 murals on its streets that depict local stories and characters, and learn more about the art on a self-guided audio tour.
Most of the buildings in Sheffield have murals painted on them. Visit the town’s two galleries and time your visit with the annual week-long international mural painting competition.
Mural Fest is both a mural art competition and festival held annually in Sheffield: Tasmania’s ‘Town of Murals.’ The first of its kind in the world, the competition is held in Mural Park, a purpose-built ‘outdoor art gallery’ in the heart of Sheffield, which attracts artists and visitors from around Australia and the world.
This year’s Mural Fest is being held on November 7 – 11. Nine artists have been selected to paint a mural over a five-day period regardless of the weather. This years theme is ‘The Place I Call Home.’ Two prizes will be awarded: The People’s Choice Award and the Highly Commended Award.
These murals will remain on display in Mural Park for eleven months until the murals are relocated to the towns they represent, forming Kentish Arts Commerce and Tourism’s newest initiative, the ‘Tasmanian Mural Trail’.
This unique mural trail will begin and end in Sheffield and will showcase the special characteristics that towns around Tasmania call their own. Inspiration for the artwork can be drawn from regional and rural Tasmania whether it is the physical or human characteristics of a place (landscapes, flora, fauna), the human characteristics such as culture, the built environment, or industries rich in history such as produce, wine, agriculture, and fishing.
‘The Place I Call Home’ will provide towns in Tasmania with their own beautiful mural to take pride of place for the local community and visiting public to enjoy. Murals from previous years are sold to raise funds for Arts council.
Sheffield Tasmania murals can be seen on several buildings around the town. At Glencoe Country Guesthouse we have three murals and plan to get more when we work out where to put them. We also have paintings on our chook and duck house.
These were painted by a brilliant local artist – Colette Binder. Of course, Mr Howard Cat had to be featured in one painting – apparently it’s in his contract. When you’re at Glencoe try and find Howard in the painting.
The murals we have are the ‘Garage sale,’ which is on the side of the old garage. This was painted by Wei Luan from Canada, who was an associate professor of fine arts at Harbin University, China. Near the pond is another mural ’Yesterday, today and tomorrow.’
It depicts a farm scene, but has spaceships in the top corner. Then we have Russell’s mural which is on his workshop wall. This mural is called ‘Distance’ – how travel allows one to appreciate new experiences, such as our engagement with nature. The two climbers encourage associations to feeling small amongst the complexity of nature.
If you are an artist or just like painting, there are so many beautiful landscapes, buildings or animals you can use as subjects in and around the Sheffield area. If you’re staying at Glencoe B&B, you could paint the majestic mount Roland from our garden while we provide you with wine and cheese, or maybe our handsome Highland bull McTavish (Howard (our cat) may have something to say about that though.
The working art space in the town has many workshops for local artists that welcome all comers. Our gardener, Robert, is an amazing botanical artist. We have two of his works in our Blue Room. Colette is also a botanical artist, but has a passion for sketching many of the old and derelict buildings in and around the Sheffield area when she isn’t painting chooks and ducks for us.
At Glencoe, we recently had a group of ladies stay who visited the local gardens and then spent the evenings painting the flowers they collected. Another idea for your stay at Glencoe and the local area.
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