KRIS DANDO

The large-scale mural in Porirua's city centre is nearly complete.

The elements have not been kind to two artists working on a mural in Porirua's CBD, but their frustrations have been tempered by brilliant community feedback.

The massive $11,000 mural, on the side of the building next to where the i-Site used to be, should be completed in the coming weeks.

That's dependent on this summer's fickle weather, with frequent wind and rain putting a halt to the work of Chloe Reweti and Ruth Robertson-Taylor.

"With projects of this scale and nature, weather is a real issue and at times it has been hard to have a consistent run of painting," Reweti said.

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"It has been frustrating and wind has played a factor because we are using stencils."

The pair are no stranger to murals, collaborating in 2012 with other artists for the Work in Progress exhibition at Pataka.

Theirs and other artists' work during the exhibition were mounted at graffiti hotspots around the city, including bus stops and the main railway station.

The current work in the CBD was designed to complement the new city centre environment, taking into consideration scale, space, light, foot traffic and surrounding architecture, Robertson-Taylor said.

"The project brief was offered to us by [city centre working group] Placemaking Porirua, who partnered with Porirua City Council to gather submissions on the mural.

"Suggestions included iconic places, stories and places of Porirua and gave us a base to work from."

The perspective of children from Papakowhai and Waitangirua kindergartens was particularly important, Reweti said.

The end result, which celebrates Porirua's 50 years as a city, includes motifs of choreographer Neil Ieremia's Black Grace, coastal views and designs inspired by the kindergarten children.

The feedback as the duo - and helpers Amy Sutherland and Ian Taylor - have worked have been generous, Robertson-Taylor said.

Several people have spoken to them as they worked, sharing stories about their city.

"We've had a lot of encouragement and the compliment that stuck with me most was 'Porirua has hard some hard years and this is what people deserve, to see the community uplifted'.

"Those kind of sentiments make public art such a rewarding vocation."

Robertson-Taylor's next "more modest" mural project will be on a Titahi Bay toilet block.

* The CBD mural will be officially opened on February 23, during the next night market.

 - Stuff