Artists enlisted for Christmas creations

CHRISTMAS may be about two months away, but local artists together with the City of Ballarat are already preparing to ring in the festive season.

Two creatives have recently completed two large baubles each as part of the municipality’s Christmas in Ballarat program which will embellish the large cedar Christmas tree to be installed at Sturt Street’s 300 lot early next month.

The Ballarat Imaginarium owner Melinda Muscat is one of the artists enlisted for the project, with the other being The Workshoppery’s Tegan Crosbie.

With the baubles depicting a reindeer and penguin, Muscat said she appreciated the opportunity to put her creative spin on her baubles’ design.

“Instead of having, say Christmas hats they’ve both got the rooftops of the two stands in Sturt Street as hats,” she said.

“It’s colourful, Christmas, and happy, but with a Ballarat historical aspect to it so it’s uniquely Ballarat and things people will recognise.”

“I’m a good fit for this sort of thing. Red, gold, and green are colours I love to use and I did it in my own painterly style.

“It’s very important to have local artists doing these sorts of things. If you want to get that sense of what Ballarat is, no artist’s going to understand it better than someone who lives here.”

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Des Hudson said it’s important to involve the region’s artistic community in the municipality’s seasonal outputs.

“Christmas in Ballarat works to foster the creative sector through a number of initiatives,” he said.

“Commissioning local artists is a great way to engage the arts community and add a genuine and unique Ballarat flavour to Christmas.”

The Sturt Street Christmas tree will remain installed until early next year.