BETHANY McKay dreams of opening her own art school in Swan Hill – and the 24-year-old is already making her mark in the town with public murals.
She has painted a design on the table tennis table outside Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, and is putting together a mural on the outside wall of Bendigo Bank.
For the table tennis artwork, which features a face, flowers and koi fish, Ms McKay was given the brief of creating artwork that was “bright and eye-catching”.
“As I was drawing her, I just knew I wanted to have a face and have a koi fish,” she told The Guardian.
“As I kept going it sort of starting getting into an underwater theme, which is why there’s so much movement in her hair and there’s also some waterlilies.”
For the Bendigo Bank mural, the brief was to present scenes of the Mallee farming region in the Bendigo Bank colours.
This piece is a partnership between the bank and the Swan Hill Inc marketing committee.
Born in Swan Hill, Ms McKay grew up in Echuca where she attended an art school for 10 years, run by Jess Le Clerc.
In her later teens, she started to help Ms Le Clerc out with teaching children’s art classes.
After finishing school, Ms McKay attended university in Melbourne where she studied political journalism for three years, before being offered a job in Sydney.
“But I decided I wanted to pursue art, so I was lucky enough to get a few mural gigs in different bars and restaurants, including a café in Richmond, Melbourne, called Caddie Restaurant and Bar, and a few cafes around the Glen Iris area,” she said.
“When I was in Melbourne, I was also teaching art classes in a gallery. Then Covid hit and obviously no-one wanted murals.
“They didn’t have any money lying around to paint their walls and stuff like that.”
Ms McKay moved back to Swan Hill and approached the Dandy Lion Studio, a creative hub, where she now teaches art classes to children and adults.
“It’s letting themselves try something different,” she said.
“One of the things about Covid is that people have had the time to think about what they like doing.”
She also coaches a group of teenagers in how to do murals, such as teaching them how to quote for murals, budget for paints and meet clients’ briefs.
Ms McKay’s preferred style of art is portraiture.
“I love portraiture. I think people’s faces allow for really interesting storytelling components,” she said. “I also love when the person is in a scene.”
Ms McKay hopes to one day open her own art school in Swan Hill.
Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery director Ian Tully said the gallery approached Ms McKay to create the table tennis mural.
Mr Tully said the table was first purchased with funding from Swan Hill Sunrise Rotary Club more than 10 years ago.
“We had someone paint it, and the whole idea of course is that it’s a public art work that’s a whole lot of fun – people can play tennis and enjoy the table tennis table,” he said.
“The idea, ideally over the years, is that it’s painted by another artist, funding permitted.
“We were able to do it this year and we were thrilled to have a young Swan Hill artist, and to commission her to do this artwork.”
