Street Art

We, ‘Alive Vibrant Timaru’ & ‘The Timaru Civic Trust’ have incorporated Street art into the daily life of our city as an urban renewal project, activating our CBD and drawing attention to our beautiful Heritage Buildings. We are excited to be able to re-imagine our use of public space, combining art and architecture, enabling the community to renew their sense of belonging to that space and its shared history.

Gallery

Koryu Aoshima

BREATH OF LIFE. 2023
LOCATION: Manawa Ora Building (Kathmandu car park)

"I wish to express the breath of life with a girl playing in nature. Nature breathes as we breathe. We need to pass this on to the next generation,
just like the spreading seeds of dandelions "
Koryu is a Dunedin based artist.

"Manawa Ora building owners (Wilson family and co) who entrusted us with adding not just a pretty picture on their building, but a gorgeous piece of art that spoke to their values of 'a breath of life' and their passion for our gem of a town and its history. These projects would not happen without the support from Timaru Civic Trust and the decades of work they've done to ensure our stunning heritage buildings remain to be seen by future generations and visitors to South Canterbury. We love enhancing our historic architecture with vibrant art and we're looking forward to the next project." - Civic Trust

Koryu Aoshima

Coffee Culture. 2023.
LOCATION: Coffee Culture Cafe. 306 Stafford Street, Timaru

Matt Willey

Scout Bee 2025
LOCATION: ANZ Bank Branch, 211 Stafford Street, Timaru

Timaru has become the first town in New Zealand to join The Good of the Hive, a global art initiative by New York artist Matt Willey. The project aims to paint 50,000 bees – the average number in a healthy hive – in murals around the world to highlight themes of health, community, and human connection.

Willey recently arrived in Timaru to paint a scout bee on the ANZ Bank building at Strathallan Corner. This bee joins 11,000 others that Willey has painted in 60 murals across 10 countries on five continents. He typically spends four to six weeks in each location, engaging with the community through events and discussions, using the mural as a way to foster connection. His visit to Timaru was prompted by an exchange with a local artisan involved in a bee-themed community art project. Inspired by the shared passion for bees and public art, Willey decided to make Timaru part of his journey. A larger mural is under consideration, with approvals and funding currently being sought.

The project began in 2008 when a single bee entered Willey’s New York studio. He spent hours observing the bee before it died, prompting him to research colony collapse disorder and its devastating impact. This encounter became the catalyst for his mission. Willey believes bees offer lessons for humanity – they are not defined by race, gender, or politics, and their survival depends on the collective well-being of the hive rather than the individual.

Aroha Novak

Wall Flowers. 2018
LOCATION: Community House, 27 Strathallan Street, Timaru

After much googling and research at the library about the history of Timaru, Aroha decided to keep this particular composition simple but nostalgic “as a little girl, I loved the Mount Cook lily logo, and always wanted to travel on one of their planes”. It references the former Mount Cook Airlines logo of the Mount Cook lily, creating a wallpaper pattern on the side of the building. Novak said it was a nostalgic reference to the Mt Cook Airlines logo, which featured the Mt Cook lily.

A few doors down you'll find the crew at the Ship Hop Brewery. If you're in need of a decent steak, check out Customs Steak House. The Timaru Civic Trust proudly own the Timaru Customhouse property.

Flox (Hayley King)

Te Maru/The Shelter. 2018.
LOCATION: Hector Blacks Lounge Bar 129 Stafford Street, Timaru (Back wall Can be viewed in the Landing Services area George Street).

“The Shelter” acknowledges the geographical, historical and cultural significances of Timaru and the greater South Canterbury as "a celebration of the natural world."

Paying homage to the town’s possible original name “Te Maru” (The Shelter), the natural peak of the building facade was a drawcard in conveying this simple statement. The Cabbage Tree also makes itself known, making reference to another possible meaning of the town’s name:
Timaru was a sheltered spot geographically and deemed worthy by early Maori as a place of rest on their long journeys up and down the eastern coastline. Nowadays, in a more contemporary context, the port has been transformed and refurbished into a modern outdoor environment where people can relax, socialise and come together as a community. The mural aspires to contribute to this.

Like all of Flox’s outdoor pieces, the artwork also pays homage to a number of native species found in the South Canterbury region, both critical and now extinct.
A Huia and the skeleton of a Moa perch against a backdrop of stylised mountains, a representation of our national losses, while beneath a vista of Caroline Bay, the threatened Long Tailed Bat, Weta and local Mudfish take centre stage in a bid for recognition.

The area around here holds so many stories of Timaru's past and there are plenty of choices in eateries including Koji Tepanyaki and Grill, Street food Kitchen, Speights Ale House, Hector Blacks and The Oxford. Te Ana Māori Rock Art Centre is a must-do interactive cultural experience, which is in the same area of the historic Landing Services Building as the Information Centre. The Timaru Landing Service Building is proudly owned by the Civic Trust.

Toothfish

Kaupapa (Plankton). 2018
LOCATION: 28 Royal Arcade, Timaru.
This wall is on the back of the Willmotts Workwear Building in The Royal Arcade, in full view of the Timaru Herald and Timaru District Council!

Painted by Dunedin environmental activist and artist "Toothfish". This stunning red, environment themed mural, incorporates plant and plankton images. Plankton are the very bedrock of all of the food chains in the ocean, as well as the driving force of the carbon cycle. Without them there would be no fish. Plankton are also the driving force of the carbon cycle. Humans burn coal and oil derived from the remains of prehistoric plankton and a goody percentage of the carbon released in this process is ‘sucked’ up by plant plankton in the ocean who produce oxygen for us to breathe. You can read more at - http://www.toothfish.org/News/ ID/1003/Vote-Plankton

While you're in the area, wander down the historic Royal Arcade, constructed in the late 1880s. It's now home to a row of offices, boutique new and second hand clothing stores, Artma's spiritual gallery, hair salons, and Rasa Asia's delicious food.

Aroha Novak

Te Tihi-o-Maru. July 2020
LOCATION: D.C. Turnbull Building, Strathallan Street Timaru.

The imagery is based on 1930's vintage posters and postcards of New Zealand.
Aroha created her own version for Timaru with Caroline Bay in the background and a cabbage tree in the foreground.
The Maori name for Timaru, Te Tihi-o-maru, a place of shelter, links our heritage with the iconic cabbage tree which is seen shading our South Canterbury landscape.
This was Timaru's second Aroha Novak mural. The ti kouka or cabbage tree-centred painting was designed to look like a vintage postcard, of Timaru pre European settlement.
“The design is my idea of Timaru pre-settlement. It’s like vintage postcard. The site it’s on is quite long, narrow, and in portrait – so the star of the image is a tī kouka.”
Novak said she chose a cabbage tree because it was “intrinsically” tied to the name Timaru or Te Tihi-o-Maru, its Māori equivalent. “There are different interpretations of what Timaru is derived from. One point is Te Maru, which means place of shelter. The other is Tī Maru, shelter or cabbage tree.”

DC Turnbull Ltd commissioned the mural on the back of a movement by Timaru Civic Trust and Alive Vibrant Timaru to bring street art to the South Canterbury town.

Anthony Fowler

Birds. 2018
LOCATION: 1 George Street, Timaru., Street Foot Kitchen

Zoe Sturm

Timaru. 2018
LOCATION: Phinz (Formerly Mocca Cafe)

Jesse Johnson

Alive Vibrant Timaru Container Art
LOCATION: Outdoor Hydro Bar on the corner of Bay Hill and Sefton Street.

Timaru Street Art Proving Grounds

Sophia Street Carpark

Alive Vibrant Timaru
Bay Spray

Free Art Workshops
2023

This was a workshop led by professional street artist Kaos, WuHoo Timaru, and Friends of Aigantighe Art Gallery, to help people learn the techniques and unleash their creativity. Visitors also picked up a can, and sprayed our purpose-built container street art canvas, and left their mark on the city as part of the Timaru Seaside Festival.

Thank you to all those who Joined us and were part of the urban art revolution.