Attempting to add some colour and delight to East London, Bernadette Meaker and her two daughters, Ingrid Meaker-Dewing and Faye Meaker-Saunders have started the East London Rocks community art project.
Inspired by a similar project in Cape Town, the three women decorate and paint small rocks, which have been hidden all over East London.
The goal is to bring a little magic and happiness to those who find the little artworks and to get the whole community on board to paint and hide their own rocks for others to find.
“It’s just about spreading some positivity and bringing something good to our little town,” said Bernadette, 63.
From flowers, hearts and intricate, colourful patterns to cute little monster creatures, aliens and even crochet work, the mother and daughters team have been mass producing and hiding rocks for the last two months and are hoping to expand their project.
“We grew up in East London and we love it here. It’s a magical little town and this is just our way of making it a bit more magical,” said Ingrid, 39, who runs So Toot, her own online business selling original memory boxes.
“I once put some rocks in the trees outside Stirling Primary School to brighten up the children’s’ day; they were writing exams at the time. I went back the next day all the rocks were all gone. It’s just a way of bringing some happiness to people,” Bernadette said.
Faye, 37, and mom, Bernadette run local bakery, Sugar.com and while it is clear that each of the three women has a creative spark, they encourage anyone and everyone to join in and decorate some rocks.
“Even if you are not creative, you can still join in – you don’t have to create an artwork, it can even just be a happy or encouraging message to make whoever finds it smile,” said Bernadette.
The project is run through social media on the East London Rocks Facebook and Instagram page. The first step is to download printable PDF labels from the Facebook page, decorate your rock, stick the label on the back and then hide the rock somewhere around town.
“The way it works, is that whoever finds the rocks should take a picture and post it on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #ELRocks and then replace it with their own decorated rock or re-hide it somewhere else,” said Ingrid.
Faye, dubbed as the most artistic of the family by her mom and sister, said acrylic paints were the best to use, but that it can really be a very low-cost or even free exercise.
From the Nahoon Reef boardwalk to James Pearce Park and Vincent Park’s pot plants, East Londoners can expect to find colourful stones at almost any one of their favourite spots from now on...