New murals to be painted on the John Lomas Skate Park as part of an anti-graffiti upgrade will also show the best routes for younger riders who are learning how to skate.
Photo credit: Monique Lovick
The skate park upgrade is funded by $70,000 from the NSW Government’s Graffiti Management Grants.
Artists Sonny Day and Joel Cameron from TOTEM Skateboarding came up with the designs for the new murals after a consultation session with local skaters.
Orange City Council Sport and Recreation Committee Chair, Cr Tammy Greenhalgh, said the designs include visual cues to show riders the best paths (or lines) to use through the skate park.
“As the artists talked to local skaters, they found that snakes were a recurring theme that kept coming up,” Cr Greenhalgh said. “So, they thought that painting a series of snakes throughout the design would also be perfect for the mural for the new visual cues.”
“They’ve gone with the Highland Copperhead snake, which is native to the Orange region.”
Different colours in the design have been used to create specific lines for beginner skaters to safely build up confidence. Intermediate and advanced skaters will follow the different shades of green, which leads them into more challenging moves.
“The designs of the new murals are fantastic and I’m looking forward to seeing the end result and how skaters will make use of the space,” Cr Greenhalgh said.
“The Skate Park is an important place where local young people can spend time together and it’s great that the NSW Government has provided funding for this project,” Cr Greenhalgh said.
The main area of the skate park will be closed for the painting project from Monday 15 May to Friday 26 May, weather permitting.
