JUST days after plans for a proposed mural project in the heart of Millicent deteriorated, a determined South East arts teacher set about ensuring urban art icon Fin DAC would leave his mark on the region.
Allendale East Area School visual arts teacher April Hague messaged Finbarr Notte via social media the day after Imagine Millicent proposal fell through.
“April’s message came so quick after the Millicent opportunity,” Mr Notte said.
“I was obviously the one who chose not to do the project in the end because there was too much negativity surrounding the mural.”
Mr Notte said commentary on social media helped shape his decision to not pursue the Millicent piece.
“Although positive attention was also implemented, somebody made a comment about how the piece would be painted on a building directly located across from a war memorial,” he said.
“I did not want anyone making the assumption that I was deliberately doing something that could be contentious.”
Mr Notte said the Allendale East project all happened “super quickly.”
“Millicent was always going to be my first choice,” he said.
“When I put the call out on social media in December, Imagine Millicent immediately reached out to me straight away.
“I thought why not but the whole situation began to not have such a positive feel about it.”
Mr Notte said his initial thoughts were he wanted a place to stop in between his travels from Melbourne to Adelaide.
“I knew I was going to be in Melbourne and Adelaide so it made sense to paint something in between,” he said.
“I was not entirely sure there would be a project in between Melbourne and Adelaide in the first place but here we are.”
STRIKING DESIGN: Turning heads in the heart of Melbourne is one of Fin DAC’s most recent concepts ‘Unukausay’ painted in Fitzroy.
Picture: @streetartmelbourneandbeyond
