ARTIST Travis Price has made his mark on walls across the state with his own unique style and creative designs.
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The former Dimboola resident will return to his hometown next week to transform a blank wall into a piece of art with the help of volunteers and local students.
Born in Heywood, Mr Price's family moved to Dimboola when he was just two.
He attended Horsham Primary School's 298 campus and then Dimboola Memorial Secondary College.
Mr Price said art was always a passion of his from a very young age.
"Art class was always my favourite, and my weekends were spent lying on the lounge room floor and drawing," he said.
"The teachers at my primary school were great, and Darryl and Maree Wren who taught me art graphics at Dimboola were amazing as well.
"My family also really supported me to pursue a career in the arts, even though I didn't know what that would exactly be.
"I knew that I wanted to get into some kind of creative field, whether that was teaching art or being an artist."
Mr Price studied Graphic Design at the University of Ballarat and then moved to Melbourne to kick start his career.
"I picked up some casual work, which slowly turned into full-time work. I moved back to Ballarat, and was commuting to and from Melbourne for another four years," he said.
He made a decision to branch out on his own and freelance when he turned 30.
"That's when I decided to go more into commercial illustrations. Sometimes I'll be working for advertising agencies and they'll need something illustrated," he said.
"I also started to make more graphic t-shirts and gig posters, which is something I really love to do.
"In the last five years everything has merged and I've been doing a lot of really fun projects."
Mr Price has also presented his work at numerous design conferences and universities, including the National Gallery of Victoria.
Mr Price said his artistic style was a mixture of different elements.
"Some of the stuff has quite a retro feel and references European travel posters from the 1960s, then I'll go and do something with skulls," he said.
"The design for the Dimboola mural is going to be a bit more contemporary. Everyday is a different job and a different style."
Although he has recently designed for big brands such as Mambo, Nike and Under Armour, he said gig posters were his favourite projects to work on.
"I recently finished designing a gig poster for (Pearl Jam front man) Eddie Vedder which was a real highlight of my career so far," he said.
"That only started because I was making t-shirts for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder. I also really enjoyed working with Blink-182 and the Pixies, so (making posters) has been a lot of fun. (Music festival) Split Milk (in Ballarat) is also coming up which I'm doing some work for."
Creating murals is another project Mr Price has focused on in recent years, including a prominent wall on Ballarat's Main Road. Last month he lent a hand painting a mural in the heart of Mildura.
His next project will be a mural for the external wall of the Dimboola Cafe, which will take between three and four days to complete.
Mr Price will have the help of Hindmarsh shire youth councillors, Dimboola Memorial Secondary College teachers and students, and local artists.
"We've finalised the design and I'm just tweaking things at the moment. It will relate back to the different names of Dimboola and acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land," he said.
"It also incorporates the Wimmera River as well. Because it's in a heritage area, I've gone with cream, green and muted teal for the colours. It should come up really nice. I'm really excited to come back to town, and see the community come out to help paint it."
He said he hoped the mural would help promote the town as a tourist destination.
"Hopefully it will help promote civic pride in Dimboola, and also help connect with tourists and visitors who might not otherwise drive into town," he said.
"Maybe they'll pull over, have a look at the mural and then look at the rest of the town too. The Wimmera River is so beautiful and that's one of the things people miss when they take the bypass."
Mr Price will base coat the wall on Sunday, outline the design on Monday and start painting the mural on Tuesday. He expects it to be finished by Thursday or Friday.
"It will all depend on the weather. With the number of people who have put their hands up to help, it should all come together fairly quickly," he said.
While in Dimboola, Mr Price will talk to students at Dimboola Memorial Secondary College about his career. He wanted to encourage children with artistic passions to follow their dreams.
"The starting point for is always your art teachers at school. I was lucky to have great teachers who spoke about my future career - I knew I wanted to draw, but wasn't sure where to go after year 12," he said.
He will also take part in a presentation with the Dimboola Town Committee on July 23, from 7pm at the Dimboola RSL Hall.
Funding assistance for the mural was provided by Hindmarsh Shire Council and the state government's FReeZA program.
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