Town and creatures on display

A PAIR of art exhibitions were formally unveiled last Friday, and honour both the town that hosts them, and some beautiful creatures that make the region home.

22 artists have contributed to the ‘Ballan, People & Places’ and ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ exhibitions at the Ballan Arts Space, which opened on Friday 8 March.

Works on display range from photos and paintings of wildlife, to historical photos of Ballan and pastel depictions of beautiful local landscapes.

Wendy Hoogenraad, Heather Anthony, and Lawrence Winder are three of the talented locals who’ve contributed their works to the exhibitions, and shared their artistic inspirations.

“I’ve known I could draw for a while, but I decided I wanted to do art when I retired. I had some pastels, and Janice Webster from Bacchus Marsh helped me get into art,” Ms Hoogenraad said.

“I haven’t stopped doing them since. Mostly I do pet pastels for people, but for this exhibition I’m branching out, and I’ve done some local landscapes.”

Ms Anthony has displayed a miniature version of a building locals and visitors alike will recognise: the old Ballan News building on Inglis Street, which is now the Oak Grove Gallery.

“I did the 3D work, and my husband did all the painting. The mouse figures are a nod to my Mouse Sprouts series, they represent my husband and I, and our beagle’s out the front with us,” she said.

“Everything is exactly how it actually is. It took three months to make it…some of the little details took an hour or more to create.”

And Mr Winder, who is usually a sculptor when it comes to his art, instead contributed some historical photographs for his contribution.

“These photos are of John Cutler and staff back in 1996. There’s a lot in these photos that no longer exists,” he said.

“When I heard the exhibition was about Ballan, People & Places, I thought, let’s put in something historic. Joe Hookey’s still there at Cutler’s, but other than that a lot’s gone, and the store’s changed a lot.

“There are a lot of new people in the area, so I thought I’d show them what the store used to look like.”

The exhibitions will be on display every Friday to Sunday from 10am to 3pm until the end of March.