Helensburgh local Sarah Rowan has unveiled a set of new murals at Rex Jackson Oval, honouring local sporting teams and inspiring community spirit through art and sport.
“Like any good Australian small town, Helensburgh is really into their sport,” Rowan says.
“I was working on the tanks one day, and the rugby team won their game on the oval next to me. It was awesome and terrifying. I was surrounded by the sounds of screaming while I was painting. You couldn’t even get a park that day because everyone was really into coming to cheer on the team, and it was so great to see the support of the community.”
The mural features the athletes and logos of beloved sports teams like the Helensburgh Tigers and the Thistles soccer club. Across the numerous water tanks, locals will enjoy representations of runners, swimmers, netballers, cricketers, little athletics, mountain biking and skate park regulars.
Painting the eight water tanks was such a mammoth task that Rowan wasn’t sure she could finish. She says the project would have been impossible without the help of her partner Liz and daughter Selah, and a couple of mates, particularly during the massive base-coating process.
Rowan is the artist behind the much-loved mural at the pet food store on the corner of Walker and Short streets, Helensburgh – featuring Helensburgh raised Olympic gold medallist Saya Sakakibara. This year's City of Wollongong awards recognised Rowan's arts and cultural achievements with the 2025 Lord Mayor Award for Excellence. She is a finalist in this year’s Local Business Awards, and has been a finalist for the past five years.
“One of my favourite things about being an artist now is that ever since the Saya mural I’ve got this connection to community that I've never had before. I've been here [in Australia] for 20 years and Helensburgh (for the past five years) has become such a family to me. I can feel their love, and it means a lot. I’m really grateful to Helensburgh and their support,” Rowan says.
When Rowan graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Converse University in 2003, she was unsure how to make a living as an artist. She pitched the idea of live speed painting to a venue owner and was instantly hooked with a newfound career.
“I went to a venue, and I said, ‘Hey, can I paint live when a band is playing?’, and they're like, ‘We've never heard of that.’ I said, ‘I haven't either.’ It's 2004. It was before YouTube was really going. I had no idea what was out there in the world. There was no Instagram. There was nothing. The next thing I know, I'm on stage with 4,000 people coming to hear a band play. And I was scared, but there was this buzz, this electric buzz of going, ‘This is incredible.'
“Over the years, I lost count of how many people came up to me after an event and said ‘oh, I loved your painting, but my god, those two, three minutes you spoke were stunning, and the most interesting part of the whole night.”
Earlier this year, Sarah achieved her biggest professional goal of the year and became a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP).
“To achieve it by June, when my goal was December, was huge. To be recognised by my peers in the speaking world means a whole lot,” she says.
“Now when I speak, it’s so cool because people ask ‘do you have a podcast? Do you have a book? How do I get more?’”
Rowan has spoken at over 600 events, empowering everyone from tech companies to accountants to improve their lives and harness their creativity. Now, audiences can learn more about Rowan’s creative philosophy through her new book, The Creativity Cycle.
“My whole thing is about well-being and connecting with yourself, and how when you connect with the fact that you are a creative being, your life is fuller and richer,” she says.
“I wanted something in people’s hands to be able to propel them further. It’s one thing to speak and share and inspire someone to get creative; it’s another to help them continue on the journey after the event is over.”
“When you become present and realise, ‘I am a creative being’, it's like a dopamine rush that no amount of personal accolades and success can compare to. Whenever someone tells me, I don't have a creative bone in my body, I call bullshit. You have 300 million brain cells. It's not that you're not creative; you were born creative. It's just sleeping."
Rowan dedicates a lot of her time to fundraisers focusing on environmental issues, children, education for women and human trafficking. Throughout her career she has worked with Google, Adobe, the Brisbane Broncos and Lions, large banks and tech industries. She has painted live portraits of figures like Scotty Pippen at events and aims to raise a million dollars for charity.
With dozens of notable achievements, Rowan says she is most proud of her journey to love herself.
“It took me a long time to get to the point where I can look in the mirror and say with sass… I freaking love you. You're hilarious. You're having a great week, aren't you? I didn't have that for 20 years. I hated who I was, and I rejected myself,” she says.
“When I can love myself, I can love others. If I can connect to myself, I can connect to others. In a world of disconnection, we have lost the joy of what it is to be alive. Choose love. Choose creativity. And remember, this whole damn thing is a journey, not a destination.”
