Self Guided Mural Tour
Sheffield has rightly earnt the reputation as Tasmania's Outdoor Art Gallery. Murals adorn the buildings on the main streets in town and have spread into the neighbouring areas, with over 200 now available to view. The murals in town tell the history of the area; people that have lived here, events that have happened and some of the natural attractions that we have in the Kentish Municipality.
A committee was formed in the 1980s with a sole purpose of reviving Sheffield. Members Alan Dyer and Beth Pagel saw a documentary about a small town in Canada called Chemainus who had kickstarted their dying economy by inviting artists to paint their town. This idea was presented at a community meeting and received overwhelming support which gave the committee the go ahead to engage their first artist. There wasn't any money available for the project so the artist John Lendis agreed to paint now and be paid later. The first mural took 3 months to paint and was officially opened in 1986.
In 2003 Sheffield held its first Mural Fest, which is now an annual highlight in the Sheffield events calendar. The Mural Fest committee extends an invitation to all artists to participate in the competition by submitting a scaled-down version of a mural related to the annual theme. From these submissions, nine artists are chosen to visit Sheffield for a week in November. During this time, they will transform their scaled-down designs into full-sized murals at Mural Park.
The below map has marked the locations of the majority of murals. Click on each mural icon to view some more information about the artist and the story behid each mural.
