Queanbeyan’s awesome new skate park mural inspired by our own Jack Fardell
An extraordinary mural has been painted on the Moore Park skate bowl – in front of the swimming pool – in a mammoth collaboration between Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, the NSW Department of Communities and the Justice Youth Opportunities program. The mural was brought to life by talented artists Arina Apostolova and Mike Shankster.
Mural artists Mike Shankster and Arina Apostolova on site with their artwork.
Shankster, whose hyper realistic artwork has appeared on buildings all over Australia, describes the mural as “one of the biggest and most technical murals I’ve completed to date”.
“About 200 litres of paint were used to transform over 500 square metres of tired skatepark into a giant artwork over a two week period,” he says.
“Giant slabs of bold colour form a huge image of a common, positive and fond childhood memory with hot chips at the local skatepark.”
The young boy in the mural has an incredible back story, based on Queanbeyan kid turned pro skater Jack Fardell.
Fardell, now 30, was born and bred in Queanbeyan and started skating at age six basically anywhere he could. Jack, a former Queanbeyan South Public School student now based in California, says his favourite Queanbeyan skating haunts included the steps in front of Queanbeyan City Council Chambers and the Queanbeyan Woolies carpark.
Jack Fardell on the cover of ‘The Skateboarder’s Journal’.
A talented and influential kid – he managed to convince former Queanbeyan South principal Paul Britton to let him skate through the school after hours – Jack was competing in extreme sports event The X Games at the age of just 11.
By 16, he was being paid to appear at skate events across Australia. He left Karabar High School after Year 10 to skate full-time, a Queanbeyan kid’s dream come to life.
“We’d hang out on our skateboards in the middle of town, in front of the library, just everywhere, but we’d get hunted away pretty quickly,” Fardell says.
Jack Fardell competing in competitive skateboarding in Shanghai.
Since his Moore Park days in Queanbeyan, Fardell has reached incredible heights (literally). He’s been a member of Adidas’s global skateboarding team, based in Los Angeles, and visited more than 15 countries competing in pro events, and skating in phenomenal locations for Adidas’ global content marketing campaigns.
In 2018, he returned to Queanbeyan to make a documentary for Adidas about his hometown (love that for us), and just recently appeared in cult skate magazine Thrasher.
Mike Shankster and Arina Apostolova working on the Moore Park mural.
The mural was worked on by local high school kids, with artists Shankster and Apostolova teaching the students the skills and the foundations of creating an intricate and comprehensive art project.
“Throughout the course of production, we hosted several workshops for local youth aged 11-25 years from Karabar High School, Queanbeyan High, St Gregory’s, and St Clare’s College,” Shankster says.
“Introducing a broad range of skills from initial consultation to concept and design, planning and eventually the hands-on hard work of executing a large scale mural.”
QPRC Community Development Officers Cristina DeJongh and Kaden Langi with artists Mike Shankster and Arina Apostolva, and Queanbeyan youth volunteers.
The project was run by QPRC’s Community Development Team and funded through a $41,450 grant from the NSW government.
QPRC Mayor Kenrick Winchester says it’s been a rewarding project for everyone involved and tells the amazing story of Queanbeyan talent.
“In the 1990s – before the Moore Park skate facility existed – my brother and I would skate down Agnes Avenue or on the J Block steps at Queanbeyan High School,” Winchester says.
“I know the skate park gets a lot of use by our youth and the mural adds a unique reason for people to come to Queanbeyan to skate.”
Artist Mike Shankster wishes to thank the youth working group, the Step Up Sisters Aboriginal girls group and Clontarf Boys Academy from Karabar High School, Cristina de Jongh, Community Development Officer from QPRC, Peter Watson and Dulux.
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About the Author: Holly Winchester
Part Jennifer Coolidge, part Jennifer Garner (gaudy and geeky), Holly idolises Dolly Parton and Princess Di and loves NRL. When she's not creating killer content, you’ll find Holly at the Maccas drive thru getting her chai latte fix or buying 1990s memorabilia for the walls of her Googong home. Specialist subject: the Woolies carpark.
