Wicks has nearly finished painting a new mural for the Wānaka Plunket rooms on Ardmore St.
Her next project will be to facilitate a Kahu Youth mural for the club’s centre at Paetara Aspiring Central on Plantation Rd.
Wicks has painted many public artworks around town, including grebe-themed transformer boxes near the grebe sanctuary on Lakeside Rd, some primary school projects, and a kōwhai mural outside the New World Supermarket on Dunmore St.
She also painted the dinosaur slide on Wānaka’s lakefront playground next to Bullock Creek.
"It was a community effort to make it happen," she said of her latest project, titled Whānau Āwhina Plunket.
"Plunket already has a beautiful mural but it is really old and needs updated," she said.
The design of the new mural — a landscape of Wānaka viewed from Roys Bay lakefront — was chosen by Plunket from several designs submitted by Ms Wicks.
Plunket successfully applied for a grant from the Upper Clutha Community Arts Council, while local businesses Wānaka Mitre 10 and Resene Paints provided materials.
Wicks has painted the mural on several large board panels at her Albert Town home and studio and the finished artwork will be installed in town soon.
"I have really enjoyed it. Some projects just flow and this project has certainly flowed. And, of course, I am happy to do it as I got good support from Plunket when I was a young mum," she said.
On Sunday, Wicks heads straight into her next community mural project, when she runs the first of several workshops on mural design ideas with Kahu Youth club members.
"I am so excited about that project. I will be workshopping it with them. I have done this before with young kids and with others in the community, but never with this gorgeous group of teenagers. I am purely facilitating it and they are painting it," she said.
The Upper Clutha Youth Council recently launched the youth mural project to a focus group at Mount Aspiring College.
Kahu Youth volunteer manager Jo Lewis said launch speakers included Queenstown Lakes District councillor Cody Tucker, Eva Fernandez from Wai Wānaka, Food Security project co-ordinator Yvonne Walker, Sonya Waters from Wild Self and Imogen Smith, a Māori representative from Kahu Youth.
The creative workshops would help the club members shape their ideas before they began painting it in Youth Week, which starts on May 20.
Kahu Youth secured funding for the mural from the Rangatahi Led Fund of Otago Community Trust last year.
