Going big – mural artist Faye Suzannah’s upsized projects

17 Feb 2022

The community is the canvas for artist Faye Suzannah who specialises in large-scale murals.

The Tauranga painter is a previous winner in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful and Resene Nature Murals Competition 2021.

“Painting on a large scale is my currency, the way I pay my way through a life that is correspondingly energetic and vibrant. Every project has brought me to get to know a new shaped surface, a new environment and a new bunch of humans. I am honoured to have contributed to so many different communities all over the world,” she says.

Faye has been working on commission decorating private, commercial and communal spaces with pattern based designs for the last 12 years. She studied pattern design and printmaking in the U.K. before arriving at mural painting.

Creative Bay Of Plenty commissioned Faye to paint the Chorus box and she says it’s in pretty much the best spot ever. “Directly across the road from the Mount Hot Pools and directly underneath Mt Maunganui itself. A tourist hotspot. Yes, I was going to have to paint in the most public of places again.” She created this vibrant design around the brief ‘Birds of Aotearoa’ and chose Resene Loblolly, Resene Conch, Resene Destiny, Resene Mamba, Resene Tarawera and Resene Green Smoke to bring it to life.  It’s entitled ‘Kererū Colours’.

Faye’s hometown is Glastonbury, but she moved to New Zealand after meeting her Kiwi partner. In her travels around the world she has painted big surfaces in many towns and cities.

“It remains the simplest way to decorate a surface for me. Murals require minimal resources and therefore suit my non-consumerist ideals perfectly,” she says.

See more of Faye’s work

http://www.fayesuzannah.co.uk/

Published: 17 Feb 2022