Just did the Silo Art Trail over the weekend with the Ms. What a brilliant way to combine her love of art with my love of railways (it helps that she loves old rusty ruins of all types).

Started with a quick detour to Marnoo before taking in the silo at Rupanyup and then overnighting at the Commercial Hotel in Minyip. Should have done Murtoa in between but ran out of light on Friday.

Next morning it was up and at 'em with a walk around Minyip where they have set up a history trail before jumping in the car for the trip to Sheep Hills, Brim, Beulah and Rosebery before stopping at Warracknabeal for a bite to eat.

On to Hopetoun and after a quick fuel stop and detour to check out the Mineral Sands loader it was a shortcut up to Patchewollock, a deviation from the trail suggested by 'er indoors which was a real winner taking in views of the bush around the fringe of Wyperfeld NP. From Patche it was across to Speed and down the Sunraysia to the final silo at Lascelles before taking in Woomelang, Birchip, Wycheproof (amazing my companion with the rail line down the middle of the main drag) before another overnight stop at Charlton.

Today we took in the sights of Charlton before heading off with a stop to check out what is left of Wedderburn Station area and lunch in Harcourt before heading home.

Excellent Pub counter meals at the Commo in Minyip and the Cricket Club in Charlton, ice cold beers in a number of top little pubs along the way and super friendly locals who seemed very pleased with the upswing in visitor numbers generated by the trail made it a top weekend. Should have added another day but that's life.

My long suffering other half while very patient with me rolls her eyes at some of my "holiday" ideas but she absolutely loved this weekend. If you want to ease someone into the joys of Railway archaeology then I highly recommend the Silo Art Trail as a great way to do it. http://siloarttrail.com/home/

BG

BTW the less said about the moronic Grey Nomads who parked their 4WD and monster caravan ACROSS THE MAIN ROAD at Sheep Hills so she could get out and snap the obligatory photo before they looped around the silo road and drove off the better. Lord help it should he actually have to get out of the car for them to tick that one off the list and post the photos on FB for the grand kids who don't give a toss anyway. He copped a mouthful from me and a couple of others after they almost caused an accident but of course being the top bloke that he was he just gave us all the finger and yelled out "up yours".

A great review, BG, and thanks for the report, glad you enjoyed, the tour.

Ice cold Beers, you didn't find any Stout, on tap ?...........seeing you had the Mrs, with.........bit of extra lead in the pencil.....

BigShunter.

Speaking as one with no artistic ability at all, it fascinates me that somebody can paint these marvellous likenesses on such a huge scale. How the artist can keep everything in scale and perspective is an absolute wonder. It's not as if HE can take a few steps backwards every few minutes to get a wide view of how it's coming along.

Dunno 'ow 'e duzzut.

'HE'...my emphasis.

Have all the silo artists so far been blokes

Speaking as one with no artistic ability at all, it fascinates me that somebody can paint these marvellous likenesses on such a huge scale. How the artist can keep everything in scale and perspective is an absolute wonder. It's not as if HE can take a few steps backwards every few minutes to get a wide view of how it's coming along.

Dunno 'ow 'e duzzut.

'HE'...my emphasis.

Have all the silo artists so far been blokes

No. Here's a link to a photo showing the artist involved at Rupanyup. Clearly not a bloke.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-12/russian-street-artist-paints-silo-rupanyup/8438826

BTW the less said about the moronic Grey Nomads who parked their 4WD and monster caravan ACROSS THE MAIN ROAD at Sheep Hills so she could get out and snap the obligatory photo before they looped around the silo road and drove off the better. Lord help it should he actually have to get out of the car for them to tick that one off the list and post the photos on FB for the grand kids who don't give a toss anyway. He copped a mouthful from me and a couple of others after they almost caused an accident but of course being the top bloke that he was he just gave us all the finger and yelled out "up yours".

My God, what an idiot - I have an identical story. I nearly collided with some grey nomad caravan + 4WD in the Grampians some years ago in the same circumstances: They had decided to stop and have lunch on a blind bend in a well-used dirt road that afforded a lovely view of Rocklands Reservoir. I gave them an earful as I was squeezing past but they honestly thought they'd done nothing wrong.

Kaff-eine who did the brilliant Rosebery silo work is also a she.

Also did a mural at Beulah if memory serves.

***edit, was on the phone when i posted this, have since checked and Kaff-eine has done a mural at Beulah, another at Lascelles plus possibly others as well as the silo at Rosebery***

BG

A great review, BG, and thanks for the report, glad you enjoyed, the tour.

Ice cold Beers, you didn't find any Stout, on tap ?...........seeing you had the Mrs, with.........bit of extra lead in the pencil.....

BigShunter.

Thanks Shunter.

Re the Stout, the answer is no but with the caveat that I wasn't really looking, it's normally my Winter drink, not great on a 37 degree Wimmera scorcher! I am strictly an "on tap" man when drinking at pubs (have never understood why people drink beer from bottles or cans at a pub, it is much nicer "on draught") and the choice was pretty basic at most places. I drink plenty of Car'ton in the warmer months so I was more than happy with that.

BG

Kaff-eine who did the brilliant Rosebery silo work is also a she.

Also did a mural at Beulah if memory serves.

***edit, was on the phone when i posted this, have since checked and Kaff-eine has done a mural at Beulah, another at Lascelles plus possibly others as well as the silo at Rosebery***

BG

Kaff-eine has quite a few pieces of street art at Benalla too. That's well worth checking out too.

Kaff-eine who did the brilliant Rosebery silo work is also a she.

Also did a mural at Beulah if memory serves.

***edit, was on the phone when i posted this, have since checked and Kaff-eine has done a mural at Beulah, another at Lascelles plus possibly others as well as the silo at Rosebery***

BG

Kaff-eine has quite a few pieces of street art at Benalla too. That's well worth checking out too.

The Benalla street art is teriffic - its all over the place, behind shops, in car parks and on alley side walls.
Still, eye-catching street art.

Yeah CPR I know but fits the topic of this thread.

A very informative article here regarding the Silo Art trail, which has been very successful for, well where ever a silo has been painted.

St Arnaud will be getting a splash of paint on there's shortly.

Silo Art Trail: St Arnaud grain silos to be transformed through Creative Activations Fund.

A NEW piece of silo art is on its way to the Wimmera.

Artist Kyle Torney will use grain silos at St Arnaud as his canvas to reflect the gold mining history of the town.

Six generations of Torney's family have lived in the town.

The silos artwork is one of five art projects funded through the state government's Creative Activations Fund.

Creative industries minister Martin Foley said the fund provided grants of up to $550,000 to back innovative and ambitious art.

"We're proud to back the world-class creative teams - and the communities - behind these bold projects," he said.

"This program is all about how creativity can activate, stimulate and amplify local tourism, businesses and jobs - and this is more important than ever. I look forward to seeing this first crop of projects come to life."

Projects in Wedderburn, Picola, Bendigo and Fitzroy will also be completed.

https://www.mailtimes.com.au/story/6785354/another-addition-coming-for-the-wimmeras-silo-art-trail/?cs=255#slide=0

Link from yesterday's Wimmera MailTimes.

BigShunter.

Last week...after celebrating dad's (Vinelander snr) 90th birthday, I decided to make a day of it on the return journey and I caught the Thursday morning:

https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/route/1545/mildura-horsham-via-hopetoun/

...bus from Mildura to Horsham. The bus passes by the Lascelles and a few other silo's which was in part a reason to travel back to Ballan this way.

However the strong sun is NOT being kind to the silo art and unfortunately the ravages of time are adding to the art...though I guess this can be seen from both perspectives.

Also to add a PT flavour to my post, on this particular service from Mildura, 2 off at Ouyen and two off at Horsham including yours truly with no pick-ups along the way. However a fair bit of freight was carried in the trailer behind the Toyota Coaster sized mini-bus and we spent considerable time picking up and setting down in the old VR parlance...'mails and vangoods'...though I suspect very little mail was carried.

The unscheduled -5min connection at Horsham didn't work out so 45 mins later I caught the following scheduled bus to Ballarat, thence opposing peak bus to Ballan.

Mike.

Kyle Torney has several outdoor canvases around the St. Arnaud township already, specifically black & white rather than the usual colour.  Makes a change.  Very good work.

Still breathing.........quite a picturesque town, well the architecture of anyway, typical goldfields style buildings, interesting location too, close to Bendigo, Ballarat also Horsham.  

Silo art a reality for St Arnaud.

St Arnaud born and bred artist Kyle Torney is using his creative talent to transform his home town into a gateway to the Wimmera-Mallee’s silo art trail.

Torney, known in the region for his sketches in charcoal, biro and spray paint art works, is painting two large silos with images that reflect St Arnaud’s gold mining history.

The Wimmera artist has so far painted a gold prospector on one silo and is finishing off the piece with the prospector’s wife and son.

The concept design underpins St Arnaud’s origins as an area economically grounded in its gold mining fortunes dating back to 1855.

“I’m depicting a pretty prominent part of a St Arnaud’s history. It’s a bit of a narrative the community was keen on,” Torney said.

“This is the first time painting silos for me. It’s like painting a canvas, but much bigger – although you have to contend with the arc of the silo.”  

https://www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au/articles/silo-art-a-reality-for-st-arnaud/

BigShunter.

A couple more silo art features to be added the collection.

Kaniva and Serviceton silo art expected to commence in the 'very near future': West Wimmera.

https://www.mailtimes.com.au/story/6918216/kaniva-and-serviceton-silo-art-expected-to-commence-in-the-very-near-future/?cs=17267&utm_source=website&utm_medium=home&utm_campaign=latestnews

Silo Art Trail: Albacutya farmer, council hope painting can begin before harvest.

https://www.mailtimes.com.au/story/6906709/silo-art-trail-farmer-council-hope-painting-can-begin-before-harvest/?cs=3738

Is it worth posting these, with the pay wall on the paper site, there's not much to be seen.

BigShunter.

Hello again, just a little break from finding out how many staff it takes to operate a train...

Looks like the old stamping ground, Goroke will have a lick of paint on their silo's, sounds great. Wonder if the paint will last long enough for me to get back to Victoria to have a peek.

https://www.westwimmera.vic.gov.au/Council/News-and-media/Latest-News/Goroke-Silo-Art-project-moves-ahead

Nice cafe in town as well.

BigShunter.

Well nobody has said nick off with the silo stuff yet, so here's a bit more from the West Wimmera. The silo's should be a colorful sight as Vicroria slowly emerges from the lockdown.

https://www.mailtimes.com.au/story/6953722/silo-art-trail-set-to-extend-with-painting-beginning-at-kaniva/

Goroke,

https://www.facebook.com/visitwestwimmera/photos/pcb.132197925268567/132197881935238/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/visitwestwimmera/photos/pcb.132197925268567/132197908601902/?type=3&theater

https://www.mailtimes.com.au/story/6957426/artist-making-good-progress-on-kaniva-silo-art-project/?cs=12

Hopefully by the christmas holidays there will be some travel allowed and plenty of visitors to these towns.

BigShunter.

Still haven't been told to stop this, so Kaniva & Goroke projects all but finished and how good do they look......

https://www.facebook.com/ABCRural/photos/a.389543157634/10158047860302635/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/1321081701252401/photos/pcb.4064965606863983/4064965413530669/?type=3&theater

BigShunter.

'HE'...my emphasis.

Have all the silo artists so far been blokes

Given the fact that the thread is headed up about Rone's work at Lascelles, the use of "he" is correct.

'HE'...my emphasis.

Have all the silo artists so far been blokes

Given the fact that the thread is headed up about Rone's work at Lascelles, the use of "he" is correct.

Naa Mike & Valvebounce, the Rupanyup job as you can see was a "lady" and a Russian ( do they have ladies in Russia ? ) without scrolling through all of the art works, would only assume there's a couple of others.

Rupanyup’s silo art is the work of Russian mural artist, Julia Volchkova, who turned her attention to the town’s youth and their great love of team sport. The work vividly captures the spirit of community and provides an accurate insight into rural youth culture.

BigShunter.

New Silo Art project in Rainbow.

The Victorian Government has announced an investment to upgrade the Wimmera Mallee Silo Art Trail which will include significant works at Llew Schillings Silo in Rainbow.

Hindmarsh Shire Council has been working closely with Llew Schilling and Visit Victoria over the previous two years to develop plans to create a silo art experience unlike anything seen before.

The flat front wall, unique to this silo, will be utilised for projections and there are further plans to allow members of the public to enter the silo to view an internal mural.

https://www.facebook.com/TheRainbowBrewery/

https://www.dimboolacourier.com.au/news.php?newsid=5157

The Wimmera & Mallee is getting quite a collection of these attractions and if at Rainbow you get sick of looking at the Silo Art, you could always visit the Rainbow Brewery...

How good are the silos in Victoria ????????

This beauty can be found in Nullawil, 300kms from Melbourne.


https://www.facebook.com/ABCRural/photos/a.389543157634/10158066305957635/?type=3&theater

BigShunter.