“Bonnie” good art

FOLLOWERS of Silo and Wall Arts can now include Bonnie Doon on their travelling tour maps with the completion recently of three murals adorning the west wall of the local CFA building. Accomplished artist Tim Bowtell finished his almost three-week project just prior to Christmas putting the finishing touches to his latest creation while dodging thunderstorms. Commissioned by the Bonnie Doon CFA, Tim was chosen as the preferred artist due to his long history in painting silos, walls and other large format works of art has come to the fore. The three images paint the picture of not only the CFA, but brings in a touch of history with the center piece being a reflection of the former general store in the old township. Tim has been creating large format wall and silo art for more than 10 years now and said it was a natural progression from his earlier love of art. “I have always painted and working up from smaller paintings I slowly graduated to larger and larger canvases and then onto walls and silos,” he said. Among Tim’s other works are several walls in the Benalla Wall Art displays, which has turned into an annual festival, along with silos at St James, Lake Bolac, Katatamite and others – in all four sets of silos around Victoria and one as far away as Moree in NSW. This latest work has been a collaboration between himself, the Bonnie Doon CFA and the community. “The community and CFA presented many photos including some historical scenes of the old township to gain ideas on what we should depict on the wall,” he said. “From all those photos it was whittled down to a few and from those a design was formed and approved. “And of course everything had to be approved by the CFA as the building belongs to that organisation.” The three images depict the work of CFA volunteers in fighting fires, an older style CFA firefighting truck and the center piece - ‘The Big Store’ – the town’s general store formerly owned by the Evans and Mitchell families which incorporated a butcher’s shop as well. “It tells the story of the ‘old and new’ Bonnie Doon,” Tim said. And many visitors to the site have already been intrigued as to who the young boy is on the bike looking at the old fire truck. Well some investigation around and a quick phone call to local historian Nola Evans revealed the young boy is in fact Bruce .... who grew up in Bonnie Doon and moved from the old town (now under Lake Eildon) to the higher grounds of the new town. The art wall took Tim more than two weeks to complete. Tim said the completion of the work was held up slightly due to rain and storms but he was thankful he could finish it up before the holiday season started. A Bonnie Don CFA committee spokesperson said the masterpiece is a collaboration between the brigade members and the community - there was a lot of materials to choose from but all were happy with the outcome. The spokesperson said the project came about as the brigade had donations sitting in the bank which had all come from the community. "We (the brigade members) wanted to put some of the money to good use and give back to the community in some way," he said. "This way we thought it was giving back to the community as well as thanking it for their generosity." The new artworks are best viewed from the western end of Bon Crescent - or can be seen from the Arnot Street end as well.