THE completion of new silo art in the Riverland has “delighted” locals and already drawn tourism attention to the area.
Painting of the Paringa Silo artwork was last month completed by Adelaide-based artist Jack Fran.
Paringa Silo Art project manager Les Webb said it was a “world class” display.
“We’ve been working on it for some time and to have the whole package now is fantastic,” Mr Webb said.
Mr Fran – who began painting the silo in December but was interrupted due to health concerns – said the assistance of fellow artist Sam Brooks was key to the process.
“The idea was to capture images which really represented the region,” Mr Fran said.
“I just love painting, so being up there every day and painting was fun.
“It can get pretty (lonely) sometimes up there by yourself, so having my assistant Sam really helped.”
The Paringa Silo Art committee last September received $60,000 through the Federal Government’s Tackling Tough Times Together program to fund the project.
Mr Webb said using the art to highlight local landscapes was a priority for the committee.
“The committee had determined a criteria we wanted the artist to achieve and he’s done that particularly well,” Mr Webb said.
“We wanted to capture the wonderful sunsets we have here and he’s done that too a tee.
“We’ve got lots of local characters represented, so it couldn’t have been better.”
Mr Webb said the completed artwork had quickly begun to generate attention among silo art followers.
“It’s been a long haul, at least three years, and there’s been ups and downs during that period,” he said.
“It’s a great feeling to have it all behind us now and completed. There’s some big parts of the project still to happen, but we’re delighted. There’s a lot of talk in the silo art fraternity that we’ve got an outstanding (display) here and of course it’s so perfectly positioned.”