Goroke silo art now complete

Published on 13 November 2020

Painting of a new art installation at GrainCorp’s Goroke site has now finished.

Artist Geoffrey Carran has been busy creating a mural on the town’s silos as part of new silo art in West Wimmera Shire Council.

Silo art painting at the site began in late September and the silos now depict a kookaburra, magpie and galah, in front of a Wimmera landscape.

Geoffrey loves painting birds and has previously painted bird murals at Edenhope, Balmoral, Niddrie and Naracoorte.

The completed project joins painted GrainCorp silos at Kaniva, which were completed last month. The two sites will tie in with the region’s existing silo art murals.

Geoffrey worked closely with the Goroke community and West Wimmera Shire Council to develop the concept for the artwork.

Council chief executive David Leahy said having two silo art locations in the shire was a high drawcard for the region.

“With COVID-19 restrictions easing, more tourists are now allowed to travel out to our beautiful part of the world,” he said.

“We encourage everyone to put West Wimmera Shire Council on their list of ‘must see’ locations to visit.”

Mr Leahy said regional Victorian visitors were already visiting both Kaniva and Goroke to view the painted works. He said he expected visitors from Melbourne to soon start arriving.

“We have many other attractions in West Wimmera Shire to take advantage of and we hope when people come to visit us, they also stop to buy food and fuel, or visit our wonderful lakes and wetlands,” he said.

Silo art first started in the region in Brim in 2016 and soon spread to seven other locations throughout the Wimmera and Mallee.

“We are very fortunate to have our own piece of silo art in our backyard,” Mr Leahy said.

Council delivered this project on behalf of the Goroke community, which was successful in getting funding through the state government’s Pick My Project campaign.

Geoffrey is a contemporary artist based on the Surf Coast, but has family property at Apsley. He is well-known for his unique paintings of birds and plants on murals throughout Australia. He has also produced a design range for The National Gallery of Victoria.

He has previously exhibited both in Australia and internationally, with his work extending to New Zealand, Turkey, London and New York. His murals also often feature in rural and remote regions of Australia as a way to bring art and cultural engagement to those communities.

More of Geoffrey’s work can be viewed at his website geoffreycarran.com.au. 

Fencing is still being completed at the site. Anyone planning on visiting the silos must abide by all safety measures in place, including exclusion zones, and there is to be no entry to the GrainCorp site.