THOMASTOWN’S High Street shopping strip is masquerading as a gallery of sorts for the inaugural Sites to be Seen art exhibition.
Curated by Helen Pollard, the three-month outdoor display is designed to bring art to the wider community. “It’s about making artwork accessible to people who wouldn’t normally go to a gallery,” Pollard says, describing the approach as ‘‘really forward thinking”.
A trail of 70 artworks by 37 Melbourne artists is emblazoned on pavements, walls, planters and posts, stretching from Spring Street to Pleasant Street. And while the pieces range from mosaics and photography to paintings and sculpture, don’t expect to see any teetering on the edge of a bench seat.
Each item has been photographed and then printed using road foil graphics, a medium usually seen in advertising.
The adhesive-backed images have been put near a church, a florist, tattooist, primary school, barber, library, post office, kebab shop and more. Where possible, Pollard has tried to match the artwork with the building it sits alongside — for example, Elizabeth Pepe’s Apples and Friends painting is outside Thomastown Fresh Fruits.
Clearly a creative and passionate advocate for art in the community, Pollard is also an accomplished artist, having exhibited her work throughout Victoria, including the Melbourne Art Show.
Her own contribution in this exhibition is a painting titled Westgate Bridge, illustrative of her move to Altona, which has meant she has to drive over the bridge regularly. “I aim to translate in paint an intense experience, emotion and feelings that relate to a memory, time and place,” she says.
Pollard moved to Australia after completing her fine arts degree at England’s Lancaster University, then studied Art in Public Place at RMIT, graduating in 2007. As well as curating the Sites to be Seen exhibition, she is the curator for the City of Whittlesea’s annual Celebration of Creativity exhibition and project manager for the upcoming Whittlesea agricultural show’s 150th Sculptural Project.
It’s the Sites to be Seen exhibition, however, that brings art to the people in such a literal fashion — to even those who thought they were just popping out to the shops for some groceries. “It’s about brightening up the Thomastown precinct, to show that diverse, creative projects are happening in the area,” Pollard says. “That’s really important.”
Sites to be Seen is on display 24 hours a day until August 31. For a walking trail map of the artwork, visit tiny.cc/qjqfew.
