Tree change

SOME colour and creativity has been added to Torquay as trees throughout the town have started appearing with masks of their own.

The idea to adorn the trees this way was started by Torquay resident Maria Phieler.

Ms Phieler said that like many she had learnt to make masks soon after it was announced they would become mandatory.

“I looked on Google how to make masks and was making masks for the family just to keep myself occupied,” she said.

“I had bits of material left over and I thought ‘what will I do now?’”

Ms Phieler made a mask for a terracotta sculpture and realised it made quite a novel decoration.

“The idea came to me that I could then do a similar thing for the trees, so I did one at the front of my house, and then I thought I might as well do some more for across the road at the reserve.”

It was while putting the masks on these trees that Ms Phieler said they began to capture people’s imagination.

“While I was doing this a couple of young girls that live in my street came up to me very enthusiastically and said they were so excited when they saw the masks on the trees. I suggested to them that it was a project they could do as well, and they were very excited about that and went home to ask their mum who said ‘yes, definitely.’

“Apart from being a lot of fun seeing these trees masked up, we also decided it was a good idea for being a walking exercise to find trees with masks. So, the girls went off and put masks on different trees around the area.”

Ms Phieler said she was pleased to see the idea had added some joy and colour to the area during difficult times.

“We go for a walk and we find a new one every now and then because obviously the kids have spread the word. At Pirate Park there is even one with an eye patch,” Ms Phieler said.

“We’re going through such a time at the moment, it was just an idea that came up just like that: it just happened.”