By Tanya Steele
A beautiful artistic addition to the winding paths of Belgrave had its official launch on Sunday 19 May.
The Belgrave Food Garden launched a stunning new mural and gave locals the opportunity to meet the artist who painted it.
The event saw attendees tend to a few gardening tasks before stopping for morning tea and launching the mural, which included a fun spotto activity for the kids.
Vice President of the Belgrave Food Garden Committee Kate Monypenny said the official launch of the mural is exciting and the group was glad to launch it.
“We’ve had a beautiful mural painted on the Belgrave Food Garden wall, behind the Hub,” she said.
A community development grant from Yarra Ranges Council has allowed for the commission and painting of the mural which is themed around the natural environment.
Melbourne-based stencil artist Jo Travis, who has been painting under the pseudonym of N2O since 2016, was chosen to paint the mural.
Her distinctive, hand-cut, multi-layer stencils are often site-specific and interact with the built environment – her work is dotted around Belgrave and the artist loves coming to the hills to paint.
“She’s done some flowering gums and some leaves in the background with lots and lots of different bugs,” Ms Monypenny said.
“My son came down with me on one of the days she was painting and had found a millipede on the ground and Jo included a stencil of a millipede which she added,” she said.
The Belgrave Food Garden Facebook page thanked everyone who braved the beautiful Autumn drizzle on the day.
“We planted some winter veg, admired our green manure crop (growing so well!) and dug up some surprise potatoes. Shame the leeks aren’t ready yet, it’s definitely soup weather!” the post read.
The next Belgrave Food Garden working bee will be on 9 June, but Ms Monypenny said the public is welcome to wander past and check out the mural.
