A MURAL celebrating the Arch of Victory is now a permanent fixture at The Mallow Hotel courtesy of a local linocut artist.<\/p>\n
The black-and-white piece is visual artist Amanda Western\u2019s first solo display and is an upscaled rendering of a print she\u2019d created of the iconic arch.<\/p>\n
Located in the venue\u2019s front dining room, the project has been in the works since around March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original carving I did is about 80 by 72 which translates to three by three on the wall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to get it scanned in Fitzroy because there was no one here with enough of a high-resolution scanner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a special type of wallpaper like vinyl. For the actual print, I used a photo taken in 1945 that was taken by a Victorian railway photographer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Western said it was \u201cserendipity\u201d that she was asked to create the piece, with the owners hearing of her qualifications while she was at the venue celebrating the news of her upcoming debut solo exhibition.<\/p>\n
She also said her aim was to capture the wartime significance inherent in the monument.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original photographer actually called it the Arch of Honour,\u201d she said. \u201cI reflected on that a lot because it was World War Two time when he took that photo.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think of all the sacrifices, and we have the longest Avenue of Honour in Australia with 3801 trees, that\u2019s how many enlisted people from Ballarat went into the first World War.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty per cent didn\u2019t come home. For me, it was such a poignant representation so I put my take on that capture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her next collaboration with The Mallow\u2019s owners is set to be located in the venue\u2019s lounge room, featuring another historical subject.<\/p>\n
Western started working with linocut in March last year while she was studying her Cert III in Visual Art at Oxygen College.<\/p>\n
The Mallow\u2019s owners are also looking for wartime-era photos of Ballarat to adorn the wall beside Western\u2019s new mural.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A MURAL celebrating the Arch of Victory is now a permanent fixture at The Mallow Hotel courtesy of a local linocut artist. The black-and-white piece is visual artist Amanda Western\u2019s first solo display and is an upscaled rendering of a print she\u2019d created of the iconic arch. Located in the venue\u2019s front dining room, the […]<\/p>\n