A MOUNT Gambier musician and artist plans to transform the iconic City Band Hall’s exterior with a vibrant, large-scale mural.
The band hall mural is one of three projects which will share in $25,000 of City Council’s creative arts fund if endorsed by elected members tonight.
Council’s People and Place committee foreshadowed $10,000 towards the hall artwork earlier this month, also earmarking $8800 for Shine in the South East – a collaborative art project led by Justin Clarke involving Tenison Woods College students – and $6200 for locals, an interactive storytelling experiment using photojournalism by Kate Hill.
Mount Gambier artist and musician Jennie Matthews hoped the grants would be approved by council to secure the project, which will feature a parade theme with images of performers and children in a procession.
“It will not happen in the immediate future unless we get some sort of grant,” Ms Matthews said.
“We’re hopeful to get this one because it will help us to hire a scissor lift, get paints and buy protective coating from New Zealand.
“The walls are four metres high in places and the mural goes right to the top so it is going to be a big statement.”
Having created murals at schools across the region and spent time working with mural artist Anne Newmarch in Adelaide, Ms Matthews is no stranger to mural art but said she was excited to leave a mark on the iconic building.
“When we had renovations recently we had lots of people commenting and asking what was happening,” she said.
“I think the mural will be something everyone can enjoy.
“We get a lot of traffic coming down Pick Avenue and everyone knows where the band hall is – it will really brighten up the streetscape.”
Ms Matthews praised the council grant program and said the community had a thriving art and music scene to celebrate.
“I have been following April Hague’s mural work which is beautiful,” she said.
“I also really love the work of Ivo Tadic.
“His praying mantis sculpture along the rail and the wave at Port MacDonnell are some of my favourites.
“It just shows how many great artists we have across the region and grants like this help show that off.”
Ms Matthews’ original concept – created two years ago – involved painted faces of famous musicians along the wall, however she changed her mind to a more “community-centric” design.
“I have spent a lot of time sitting in the car park, looking at the placement of the windows and the doors and the height of the wall, trying to work out what will fit into that,” she said.
“It’s nice to be able to use windows, window ledges and roof lines and those sort of things in the design.
“A lot of street art is kind of based on the characteristics of the wall and this is a long wall, so it needed something sort of long and skinny and tall.
“So we decided on a bit of a parade theme with children and musicians marching along.
“I have also put cafe umbrellas across the top as a uniting feature which are very much part of our outdoor living and all of those things show a happy life out in the sun with music.”
If the design is approved, Ms Matthews hopes work will start soon with an estimated completion date in April.
Council will consider funding the three projects tonight.
