Arts for All members Connie Fazzolari (left) and June Wood (right) are organising Tank Art to paint little koalas on Cobram businesses; Rob Hamilton of Vintage Wood n That will participate in the public art opportunity, which will also raise money for Dutch thunder Wildlife Shelter. They are pictured with some mockups of the koalas to be painted around town by Tank.
Photo by
Isabelle Harris
Prolific Shepparton artist Tank art is coming to Cobram to recreate his infamous little mice artworks around town with a twist.
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This time, the creatures will be Cobram style — they’ll be little koalas instead, and part of the proceeds will be donated to Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter.
Connie Fazzolari of Arts for All, who are facilitating the project, said she got the inspiration after hearing of Tank’s mice artwork around Shepparton.
“Koalas are Cobram, so when they suggested koalas I thought they were perfect for our town, and we need something to have fun with,” Ms Fazzolari said.
“It just came from there, I just think it’s something different for our town.”
Ms Fazzolari found a huge number of businesses were keen to participate after she posted a call out on a local Facebook group, asking if any businesses would be interested.
“The reaction was fantastic,” she said.
Fellow Arts for All member June Wood said the initiative formed part of their mission to bring public art opportunities to Cobram.
“This project’s a fun little project and the kids will love it... it brightens the town and people want it, the community really do want it,” she said.
“Everything we’ve put up about it has been all positive and supportive.”
Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter’s Kylee Donkers said she was amazed and very pleased the shelter had been selected to receive the donations.
“We had put up a comment on the Facebook post asking if there was anything we could do, if there was any way the shelter could help we’d be happy to support the project,” she said.
“They called me yesterday (July 17) and told me (we’d be receiving the donations)... it couldn’t be at a better time because fundraising is a hard thing to do at the moment.”
Tank typically charges a business $100 per animal to be painted on their property and donates 20 per cent of the proceeds; Ms Donkers said this money would be used to purchase feed for the animals in their care.
“Normally winter is a quiet time for us but this year it’s unbelievable, we’ve got new animals coming into the shelter every day,” she said.
“The more money that comes in, the more animals we can help.”
Rob Hamilton, who owns Vintage Wood n That, is keen to get on board and have a specially-themed little koala painted on his business in Barooga.
“It’s unbelievably good for the community. It makes people aware of businesses and aware of what’s available,” he said.
“We’re keen to be part of it. it’s good for businesses, its good for tourism and it gives people things to do that’s interesting.”
Tank painting one of his mice at the Shepparton Information Centre; He charges $100 per mouse and donates 20 per cent of the proceeds to charity.
Photo by
Anna McGuinness
Tank first painted a mouse on a Shepparton cafe some years ago, but after he painted more on a mural, the idea blew up with the paintings now dotting businesses all over Shepparton.
He said the mice also encourage people to roam around and help them discover businesses they did not normally visit as part of their search.
“It drags you out of the main street and around town a bit, a town’s not just parks and beauty spots, its businesses that are there and what they have to offer,” he said.
“Each koala will be different and we’ll keep it simple... they don’t have to be overdone, you keep them quite small and you can fit them anywhere on your business.
“It’s something every town could do, it doesn’t matter how small you are.”
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