That is thanks to the small town of St James, which is the latest community to benefit from the silo art trail phenomenon sweeping the country.
With painting of the St James GrainCorp silos now officially under way, adding to the the amazing silo-art at Devenish and Goorambat the north east art movement is booming.
With new art being painted by DVate at Goorambat as part of Wall to Wall, and Devenish welcoming Cam Scale back to add a new scene on a third silo, the area is becoming spoilt for choice.
St James jumping on board the silo art movement is great news for a town of 91 people, which is aiming to get back on the tourism map.
Well-respected Benalla based artist Timothy Bowtell scaled the silos this week to begin painting a mural that depicts the history of the facilities at the St James site, which opened in the early 1900s.
The artwork is expected to be completed by mid-April.
The silo bunkers at St James were built in 1943, with bushels of wheat originally delivered to the site via horse and cart — as depicted in the artwork under way.
St James Silo Art Committee secretary Kathy Beattie said the idea was first raised in November of 2017 at a community meeting.
‘‘We were astounded at the attendance – we knew then that the community was keen to make this happen,’’ Ms Beattie said.
‘‘We have had terrific support from the community and a donation of $20000 from Coles.
‘‘The Coles family have a long and close relationship with St James — the Coles children attended our local school and GJ Coles purchased the St James shop from his father, taking the first step on his successful business career.’’
George Coles, founder of Coles supermarkets, will also feature in the painting, which partly serves as a homage to the Coles family, who were local to the area and whose business played a pivotal role in supporting the silo art project.
The new silo art is only a five-minute drive from GrainCorp’s Devenish site, which was the most recent project to join the silo art trail in April last year.
GrainCorp recently celebrated three years of the iconic silo art trail that began in western Victoria in 2015, with artist Guido van Helten’s mega-scale depiction of farm workers sprawling across six silos at GrainCorp’s Brim site.
Since then, the trail has spread across GrainCorp’s network with sites in Rosebery, Lascelles, Sheep Hills, Patchewollock, Rochester and Devenish in Victoria being painted.
It also headed north in 2017 with an artwork created in Thallon, Queensland.
The silo art movement has provided a powerful tourism drawcard in the bush, with local communities reporting an increase in trade, as well as nationwide media attention.
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