Art and literature combine for Featherston bookworms

ART AND LITERATURE: Members of the Featherston Art Group show off some of their creations - including a literary scarecrow.

ART AND LITERATURE: Members of the Featherston Art Group show off some of their creations -- including a literary scarecrow. Back row: Robyn Ramsden, Angie Smith, Jade Holley, Karen Shaw, Patsy Wools. Front: Kate Mead (left), George Watterson, Sue Watterson and Hope Sexton.

What's a festival celebrating literature without dresses made from book pages in shop windows, scarecrows dressed up as literary heroes, and graffiti featuring characters from Tin Tin?

Featherston holds its second annual Booktown event late next month, playing host to a swag of Kiwi authors, poets, editors and biographers.

But the writers won't be the only stars of the show, with an enthusiastic group of Featherston residents working to create installations murals, window displays and other street art to be on display throughout the weekend.

The Featherston Art Group was formed ahead of last year's inaugural event and tasked with decorating the town -- stencilling children's book characters on the side of abandoned buildings, making book art in the shape of angel's wings, and weaving quotes woven into fences.

Featherston Booktown director of operations Kate Mead said the street art is not only a tribute to the joys of reading, but also lifts the profile of Featherston -- frequently criticised for looking rundown and dilapidated.

"We wanted people to look at Featherston with fresh eyes," Ms Mead said.

"Booktown celebrates stories, but through the art, the community is creating its own stories which are positive, fun, interesting and inclusive. Things like this help instill a sense of pride in the town."

Ms Mead said the Featherston Art Group came together while she was looking for volunteers last year, and found many people had talent in arts and crafts. Members helped businesses and shops make book-themed window displays which were relevant to their business.

"Everyone got into the spirit in some way," Ms Mead said. "On the first morning, every shop proprietor I saw was out washing their windows. It was the most wondrous sight."

Memorable pieces from the group included quotes in markers on shop windows, fruit constructed from pages of the Bible, bunting based on book covers, and an angel sculpture made entirely of book pages.

Most popular were the characters from The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Where the Wild Things Are on the old All Aboard and Sunleigh buildings, and the quotes appearing amongst coloured tape on a Fitzherbert St fence, both of which are still in place, untouched by vandals.

The group is hard at work crafting dresses out of pages, oversized rubik's cubes with images from books, and scarecrows in various recognisable costumes to be placed through the town.

Stencils of Tin Tin, Snowy and Captain Haddock are to make an appearance, and the Chicken Licken nursery rhyme will appear on the side of Pioneer Takeaways.

More poignant will be a design incorporating a Sufi poem by newcomer Sue Watterson to be recreated on the wall by the Fire Station.

The group is also planning a live installation, with people reading books in bed.

"It's building community spirit, and helping businesses and the community get to know each other," Ms Mead said.

"Reading, something that is so fundamentally human, is bringing people together, and that's really heartwarming.