The beloved North Dunedin mural has been integrated into Keep Dunedin Beautiful’s plans to design a new mural that will greet visitors to the city driving in from the north.
The revised design features the word "Ōtepoti" with letters designed by 15 pupils from seven different schools in the area who won a competition to create designs for a fresh mural that would incorporate the existing cat motif.
Former George Street Normal School pupils Frost Bas, 11, and Chelsea Seeley, 11, came up with the design for the letter "O" in Otepoti.
Frost designed the waterfall featured in the bottom and Chelsea came up with the concept for the top half, including the idea to use the fern for a macron.
Chelsea said she chose to use the fern because she wanted to be different and it was a good symbol to represent New Zealand.
She also redesigned the Matariki stars to fit in the top of the O and added lots of sheep.
His initial design also had parts of Port Chalmers in it because it was the first place he went to when he arrived in New Zealand.
Both of them loved art.
Frost started drawing when he was 4 and Chelsea had begun selling custom dog portraits from her parents’ shop.
They were stoked to have their designs displayed in George St.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful’s original plan to create a new mural in place of the cats was met with outrage on social media and a petition to save them by Dunedin man Doug Fraser, which got more than 1500 signatures late last year.
The original mural was designed by Cornelia Fechner in 1989 and painted by pupils of Otago Girls’ High School.
Mr Fraser said he was happy with the with the new design because the cats were preserved and good use was being made of the plain grey concrete wall above them.
"Its a compromise where everyone can be happy.
"The old mural is saved and a new generation of kids can contribute by adding to the mural, rather than painting over it."
He liked how the cats fitted in with the rest of the design.
"It’s adding a splash of colour above to a grey wall without destroying the original and for me it ticks all the boxes — I call it a win-win".
Mr Fraser also donated a sum of money towards the project.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful chairwoman Mandy Mayhem said the process was an example of the community collaborating.
She said the new design would give the new generation of artists a sense of pride and belonging in the community.
No council money was being spent on the project; the group was still fundraising to get to their goal of $3000 via its Givealittle page.
