Painted by local artist Tim Bowtell, the commissioned piece overlays three central figures — the early bowler, the modern-day bowler and a junior bowler, forecasting the future of the sport.
Benalla Bowls Club chief executive Wendy Joseph said the mural was a fantastic addition.
“It shows the history of the club and how far it’s come, and the modern-day and junior bowlers show what the future might be. It’s definitely a positive thing for our club and the game of bowls,” she said.
Joseph said the idea for a commissioned piece was the brainchild of club director Graeme Pitts.
“We had a patch of wall which was an ideal place for a mural and Graeme came to the board with the idea,” Joseph said.
“We wanted something that would be in tune with the bowling scene, so Tim submitted his ideas to us.”
With the board meeting once a month, Joseph said the project took a while to come to fruition.
“The timeline was quite long, from Tim’s first design, he’d come to the board and we’d have some changes to be made, so it took a few months to come together,” she said.
But the project has finally reached lift-off, with Bowtell on-site this past week to produce the masterpiece.
Beginning Wednesday last week, Bowtell said he expected to finish the wall this week.
And while the artist has a long list of projects under his belt, Bowtell said this was the first sports mural he had tackled.
With a long list of small and larger scale projects in the pipeline, Bowtell said interest in murals across the region was at an all-time high.
“When people would ring me, I was saying, I’m busy up until Christmas, and now I’m saying, maybe I’m busy up until this time next year,” Bowtell said with a laugh.
“I’ve noticed in the last two weeks the phone calls haven’t really stopped.”
Seeing Bowtell in action on Monday, Joseph said the mural would add to the already vibrant art scene in Benalla.
“I think it will be a great addition to Benalla, and for us, its concept comes directly back to bowls,” she said.
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