A V/Line train from Warragul became a temporary art space recently when a group of enthusiastic Baw Baw Arts Alliance artists travelled down the train line to the Trafalgar Artspace for the second annual "Down the Line" art activity.
The brainchild of BBAA member Anita George, with help from fellow members Ingrid Thomas and Prue Barridge, the "Down the Line" event involves travelling down the train line to the various art spaces, but also passing a piece of work down the line of artists for collaborative creation.
The group of artists took on the challenge of working on each other's art in a variety of media, from oil pastel to acrylic and later gel printing.
The challenge began at the Trafalgar Artspace, where each artist was presented with a blank canvas and a range of unusual tools and instructed to produce an abstract piece of work.
Artists had to avoid being precious about their pieces because the call to "swap work" could come at any moment. When it was time to swap, canvases were passed "down the line" to another artist who put their own interpretation on the piece.
The group then travelled to the Yarragon Station Gallery for lunch. With their wet canvases in hand on the train, the artists provided great amusement for the fellow passengers and conductors.
Concluding the event, the artists made their way back to Warragul to create a variety of gel prints at the VRI Hall Artspace.
Coaches to the goldfields
I was wandering about on the web, looking for more information on the McEvoy of McEvoy’s Track fame when I came across page one of the Gippsland Times edition of Friday, March 13, 1863. It was a little hard to read but it told a fascinating story...