ARTIST Renee Vassiliou is working on a 50sqm mural in Coolbinia and she’s letting kids call the shots.
New Kidsland owner Taryn Prior commissioned her to do the piece to liven the Walcott Street place up, wanting something more personable than the usual Mickey Mouse motifs on the wall, and Ms Vassiliou wants to go hyper-local by incorporating kids’ requests.

• Clockwise: Rosie (6), Kidsland owner Taryn Prior, Jaxon (6), artist Renee Vassiliou and Anastasia (4) work on a new mural. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
So far youngsters have asked for purple dinosaurs and pink bunnies, and all the houses and people in the mural are local personalities and places (with a little bit of artistic interpretation, since there aren’t actually that many pink and orange houses). Ms Vassiliou’s own daughter Rosie is pictured swinging on an orange tree.
On Friday April 8 she’s inviting everyone down to 340 Walcott Street between 10am and noon to meet the artist and make requests. “I’m expecting lots of lady bugs and flowers,” Ms Vassiliou says.
by DAVID BELL