Kerry Nicholson won the 2021 Rochester Mural Festival for 'Imagination'.
Photo by
Cath Grey
Rochester is set to burst into colour and creativity as four major events combine for one of the biggest weeks on the local calendar.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The Rochester Mural Festival, Sips and Sounds Festival, Creative Seeds Exhibition and Ripple Fest will run during the week between Saturday, March 21, and Saturday, March 28.
Festivities begin on Saturday, March 21, with the mural festival’s much anticipated meet the artist dinner, welcoming mural artists, guests and community members to celebrate the start of festival week.
Painting officially begins for the Rochester Mural Festival on Sunday, March 22, with artists starting work in Mural Park, transforming the space into a live outdoor studio where visitors can watch murals come to life throughout the week.
For artist Kerry Nicholson, the 2026 Rochester Mural Festival marks his 10th visit to the event, having only missed 2020.
The 71-year-old Toowoomba-based artist has an impressive track record at Rochester, including first prize wins in 2021 for Imagination and 2019 for Homage, which also won the People’s Choice Award.
Having painted since he was a child on the kitchen table, Kerry describes himself as working in realistic art rather than abstract styles.
“I don’t really understand abstract art, to be honest,” he said.
“I like surrealism, but the thing I work in mostly is realistic art, traditional realistic art, what they call hyper-realistic, which is like photography.
“People say, ‘why don’t you take a photograph?’
“It is not really about that, it is about how good you have to be to make it look like a photograph.”
The veteran artist has extensive experience with large-scale murals beyond Rochester's 4.8m x 2.1m panels.
“I have done a number that are over 40m long by 8m high,” he said.
“If you come to Queensland, you can go to Moore Trailers on the Gore Highway at Pittsworth, which is about half an hour from Toowoomba. I have painted a mural that is 130m long by about 4m long.”
Kerry Nicholson putting the finishing touches to the guitar in his mural "Our Song" in 2025. Photo: Jordan Townrow.
For this year's festival, Kerry is creating a realistic painting of a father and daughter.
“A father, he is handsome, he doesn't look anything like me,” he said.
“He is a handsome sort of bloke and he is just having quiet time with his daughter and I think we miss that.
“You know, everyone's glued to their computer or their telephone or watching TV all the time.”
The artist credits the Rochester community for drawing him back year after year.
“The people keep bringing me back to Rochester, building up different friendships, not just with the artist, but the people who are running the event,” he said.
“There are some really good people there that are really trying to do good things for the whole area, by creating a tourist mural trail.”
Kerry Nicholson working on his mural titled 'Sweet Sweet Surrender' at the 2024 Rochester Mural Festival.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
27°C