All Creatures Great and Small

Chalk the Walk Newcastle

23 September – 8 October 2023

Introduction to 3D chalk art workshop during Chalk the Walk Newcastle 2023

Youth Chalk Art Workshop

September 18

Students from Newcastle High Cooks Hill Campus got down and chalky with Artists Rudy Kistler and Mariko Konno in Kuwumi Place. The group learnt the basics of 3D street art technique and created their own immersive artwork to pose on and interact with.

This activity was proudly sponsored by Quest Newcastle.

3D art trail

September 23 – October 8, 2023

Visitors were invited to explore the trail of amazing concrete canvases stretched across Newcastle’s beautiful CBD at their own pace and pleasure. People could step into the 3D artworks, become part of the illusion and share their magic moments with us using #NewCTW2023.

Aussie Celebrity Selfie by Anton Pulvirenti at the Visitor Information Centre. Featuring iconic Aussie animals in addition to a number of locally threatened species (top left).

Skateboard with Chalky the Chihauhau. Artwork by Rudy Kistler and Mariko Konno in Civic Park (top middle).

Zac Craig’s Spider was found on the corner of Hunter st and Darby St (top right).

Moon Rabbit 2D Chalk artwork by Mariko Konno in the Hunter Street Mall (bottom middle).

Rudy Kistler’s Frog Chorus in Kuwumi Place (bottom left) and the Darby Street Octopus by Zac Craig (bottom right).

 

UBI VITA, SPES EST Where there is life, there is hope.

Artist: Jenny McCracken (2023)

Newcastle’s first permanent 3D pavement mural showcases two great migrating species that move past Newcastle each year: the Humpback Whale and the Swift Parrot.

The iconic Humpback Whale viewable from the Newcastle coastline right now has been through population crisis and is currently enjoying a resurgence in numbers whereas the Swift population is still in trouble, and with critical habitat in and around Newcastle, there are many locals that are still unaware of the plight of these little jewels of the sky.

For every one that breathes there is hope.

Humpbacks follow the ancient currents south to Antarctic summers, then cycle up to winters north of Capricorn.

Each new life brought forth woven from songs, music of creation returning from the brink of silence to harmonise the deep, weaving blue and green with shafts of light, in sound.

For every one that breathes there is hope.

Swift parrots sense seasonal shifts, leaving Lutruwita as the Fagus leaves fall. Do they hear the Humpbacks call from the sea?

Following the leviathans on their journey north over land, then straight and land again. Once abundant flocks diminished, now rare travellers indeed.

Two great migrations touching the shores through millennia. Once resilient and reliable in their repetition, Now experiencing the threat of existential elimination, an after effect of anthropcentric entitlement.

On a revolving trajectory ever more humpbacks return, humans finally grasping the paradoxical fragility of lives so large. While smaller lives still slip through the cracks. Swiftest of the species, rainbow jewels of the air, hurtling towards oblivion on our watch.

Their breeding trees taken, north and south, burned and cut as once the whales were hunted to the edge. This tide needs to turn to see survival and revival. Two great journeys intertwined in time and tide:

for every one that breathes there is hope.

 

Pavement Art Competition

Local and Emerging Artists were invited to come out of their studios and create their own chalk masterpiece live on the streets during Newcastle’s Chalk the Walk event.

Theme: Threatened Fauna of the Lower Hunter region.

Proudly sponsored by Saving our Species (NSW DPE).

Congratulations to the winners from that event:

  • Grand Prize: Alicia Klein

  • Highly Commended Award: Charlie Rose

  • Peoples Choice: Matti Niemkiewicz

Family Chalking Competition

Novocastrians were invited to round up a family member to be part of a team of 2 and register to be a part of our Family Chalking Competition. Theme: Creatures in my neighbourhood.

Congratulations to the winners from that event:

  • Winner of the Birdwatching Backpack from the Department of Planning and Environment Saving our Species: Tara Clark and Dad Garrett with their Nudibranch.

  • Winner of the BirdLife Australia Gift Voucher: Willow Benson with Mum Paige with their lovely Aussie Bird artwork.

  • Winner of the Ka-fey cafe Gift Voucher: Jeremy and Ella Partridge with their Bin Chicken

Art Exhibition

Not only did our fabulous artists Chalk the Walk this year, but we also had a special exhibition of their work for visitors to peruse.

3D Chalk Art Bike Tour

Newy Rides took a group of keen riding art fans for a guided tour of the 3D artwork trail across the Newcastle CBD.

Great weekend exercise + unique guided tour of the CBD + your best angle captured with the interactive artworks = great day out!