The making of a street art addict

Artist Gemma Clough has learned the hard way that creating street art demands a particular kind of preparation.

It wasn’t so much the hours of preliminary sketching and design work that surprised the Taupō graphic designer when she first transformed a public wall with cans of spray paint. Nor did she mind the mathematics required to calculate coverage and colour ratios. However, it was a shock to discover the sheer physical demands of large-scale artistry.

“That was the hardest undertaking in my life,” Gemma says, recalling the Pinky Promise piece she produced for Taupō’s annual Graffiato street art festival in 2021.

“I think I was at the wall for about 30 hours over the three days and it was hard on my whole body standing on either concrete or in a scaffold all day. It was hard on my knees, my arms were getting sore and I had really sore tendons from having to press down on spray cans.”

Pain aside, the artistic process proved addictive.

Winning design

Which is why she now actively works to keep her body limber before tackling any mural project. Gemma, who is Ngai Tahu, spent weeks working on a series of hand and body stretches before applying any paint to a 15m x 5m wall in downtown Taupō for the newly created 100% Love Taupō mural.

The piece is her biggest undertaking to date and part of a unique design opportunity where Tourism New Zealand offered up the 100% Pure New Zealand logo for a regional interpretation. Destination Lake Taupō was keen to get in on the picture. Gemma‘s concept was selected for the striking way it weaves Taupō landscapes and wildlife through the lettering of the mural, and the artwork was jointly commissioned by Love Taupō and Town Centre Taupō.

The artist worked her way through at least 30 concepts before settling on the final drawing, with its rainbow over Huka Falls and flowering kowhai above the lake’s wild Western Bays cliffs. Iridescent tuī and flitting piwakawaka make an appearance alongside the region’s famous trout.

Naturally, the mural includes the Tongariro River where Gemma has been white water rafting several times, and the lakefront Tongariro National Park vista. “Everyone knows that view to the mountains, from the hashtag Love Taupō sign. It’s grown on me over the years and people love it.”

Washing away worries

She had fun hiding an endangered whio bird among similarly-toned river rocks on the wall, and painting in the kererū birds she dubs “sky fatties”.  

“And Huka Falls is probably my favourite place in this town. It’s the colour of it that’s part of the allure, I’ve never been able to quite capture that greeny blue.  

"Every time I have visitors, I make sure I take them to Huka Falls because it’s such a special place. When I go, I always feel life’s worries are washed away there, that everything is in perspective, that life is good."

Gemma Clough

Every element of the mural has a personal connection to Gemma, who grew up in Taupō before completing a Bachelor of Computer Graphic Design at Waikato University. When the 2008 global recession struck and the job market shrivelled immediately before graduation, she returned to Taupō to find temporary work that eventually led to a graphic design career. And she has stayed, willingly. 

“There’s just something about the environment here. It’s weird because I mostly work inside but I always love it when I come home from being out in the rest of the world, come down that control gate hill, and there’s the lake and mountains. And I think, yeah, I’m home. 

“And there’s something kind of chill about the vibe in town that I like, especially now it’s become a lot more publicly arty over the last decade.” 

While Gemma has been drawing as long as she can remember, she credits an inspiring primary school teacher for introducing her to watercolours and sparking a passion for paint. As fellow students tackled extracurricular sport, she immersed herself in after-school painting and ceramic classes.