Bus stop of beauty: Artists Rosie Milenkovic and Galea Menin with the mosaic mural they installed this month at a bus shelter on the corner of Falls Road and Fletcher Street, Wentworth Falls.
A bus shelter in Wentworth Falls that occasionally was a target of graffiti vandalism is now an object of beauty thanks to the generosity of two Blue Mountains artists.
Leura mosaic artist Galea Menin said her close friend Rosie Milenkovic wanted to make her local bus stop near the corner of Falls Road and Fletcher Street nicer to look at, and before long the pair made a plan to achieve that.
“We both had lots of materials like Italian and Mexican Smalti glass tiles, mineral rocks and glass beads, we made a design for the mural and then got approval from council to instal it on the bus shelter,” she said. “It is a donation to the community.”
The mural depicts a gum tree and what really makes it special are its detailed pattern of colours and shapes in the many leaves and bark strips
“I’ve done mosaics for 12 years and it is great playing with pieces of colour,” Galea said.
“Young eucalypts have the most amazing colours on their leaves and its something we tried to capture.
“The bus shelter is surrounded by eucalypts and so the mural really reflects the background.
“The light shines off the pieces and it changes during the day.
“The response from local residents has been wonderful — they really appreciate it.”
Rosie said they spent one day per week installing it over a period of three weeks and it took six months in total to design, gain development consent and make.
“People enjoyed seeing the progress of it as more bits were added to it over time,” she said.
“Mosaics are becoming more popular to make and it is something kids can get involved with too.
“Hopefully there will be more in public places in the Blue Mountains and who knows, maybe we will do another one too.”