By Jed Lanyon
A new street art library was opened in Healesville on Thursday 11 March thanks to YAVA and its members.
The new community library is accessible to the public and contains books and magazines aimed at teaching locals about all things art.
YAVA CEO Kate Baker invited art lovers, and those wanting to learn, to come down and read a book or to donate their own.
“Mim came to us with an idea and said, wouldn’t it be amazing if you could walk around the streets of Healesville and you could have a street library but a street library for art,” she said.
“You can pick up something you like, sit down on one of the beautiful park benches, have a bit of a read, put it back. We thought you could even write a little note about what you liked about it.”
Healesville resident Mim Kocher said she hoped the library would also help promote the work of YAVA.
“When it says art, that just encompasses so much. Not just the visual arts but music, graffiti, architecture, dance, ballet and opera,” she said. “It’s a very wide topic so hopefully people will be able to find something they enjoy.”
The artwork of the sculpture was completed by local artist Amanda Ruck and the project came together thanks to a grant from Yarra Ranges Council.
“She is just the most fantastic artist,” Ms Kocher said. “She does all kinds of wonderful artwork.”
Ms Ruck shared the process of her work.
“I was always going to do landscapes because that’s what I was most interested in and I just wanted to make them very different, so each panel depicts a different scene and is really colourful, bright and happy,” she said.
“It’s just about making the world a more magical place, sculpture does that and two-dimensonal art does as well and we have a combination of both here.”
