Mount Alexander Shire Council, Media Release, 16 April 2026
Mount Alexander Shire Council is excited to announce a public art commission by local artist Kirsten Moegerlein.
The artwork will be a wrap-around mural on Panmure Street in Newstead on the soon-to-be refurbished toilet block.
Kirsten is an emerging artist, experienced designer and researcher living on Djaara Country, based in Yapeen.
She paints landscapes, has a PhD in participatory design and has exhibited work locally, including at Artpuff and in Melbourne.
Kirsten will work in partnership with Newstead Landcare to design and paint the mural over the next three months, celebrating over 30 years of revegetation work on the Loddon riverbanks.
Mayor Toby Heydon said that Council is proud to support a local artist and celebrate the natural beauty of the river.
“Kirsten is a wonderful artist and brings great skills in collaborating with the community. We look forward to seeing how she commemorates the transformation of a degraded river habitat into an oasis of plant and animal life.
“We’re delighted that Kirsten will celebrate Newstead Landcare’s hard work restoring the riverbanks and create this mural to brighten up a well-used corner of Newstead.”
Kirsten was selected from a pool of 26 artists who responded to an expression of interest in early 2026.
The commission follows community engagement where Newstead residents showed strong interest in telling the story of the Loddon River and revegetation.
Kirsten’s artwork will connect with wider community celebrations of the river.
On the other side of the riverbank, Newstead Arts Hub has developed ‘Weaving the River’, a program which includes a month-long exhibition and the River Story Day on 26 April, in the lead up to the creation of a public artwork on the arts hub fenceline.
Together, both the Council mural and Newstead Arts Hub’s fenceline artwork will create a cohesive, collaborative celebration of the river on both sides of the Loddon.
Kirsten will be sharing her concept design for the Panmure Street mural at the Newstead Arts Hub’s exhibition and River Story Day:
- When: Saturday 19 April, 11.30am to 2.00pm and Sunday 26 April, 10.00am to 3.00pm
- Where: Newstead Arts Hub, 8A Tivey Street Newstead
About the artist
Kirsten is an emerging artist and experienced designer/illustrator, living in Yapeen outside of Castlemaine. She brings 15 years design experience to her art practice and has a unique abstract style in her art. She delights in light, colour, shape and form, as well as local flora and fauna. Since her first solo art exhibition four years ago, she has exhibited yearly and been commissioned to create artworks for range of purposes including a mural in Tennant Creek, Mount Alexander Shire Council’s Eco Truck project and an Apple TV series. Her passion alongside art is gardening and revegetating the two acre block she lives on. Walking along the Loddon River is an ongoing source of inspiration for her art practice.
