HARD work and a strong sense of community are behind the beautifully maintained recreation area of the tiny township of Calivil, one of Loddon’s best-kept secrets.
So, Calivil resident Sue Lea reached out through the clubs and activity group networks around Calivil Memorial Hall to ensure that the exhibition they will host for the Loddon Valley Arts Trail next weekend will be something special.
“Our hall is central to our community, as the mural on its wall showing some of the history shows,” Sue says.
“We’ve bounced back well from the 2022 floods when the hall was a safe haven, so we are ready to welcome visitors to our part of Loddon shire,” she says.
“The exhibition that will be on here across the three days is very exciting, with all kinds of artwork that has something for everyone.
“We’d love to see lots of visitors head to Calivil.”
The exhibition Beasts Birds Beyond is one of the feature shows on the Arts Trail program.
It includes big wire animal sculptures by Clunes artist Tom Ripon, ink paintings of magpies, choughs and other Central Victorian birds by Newstead artist Ken Killeen, three new birds and beasts paintings by Gunbower artist Rebecca Wells and bronze dog sculptures by Jane Wells.
Work by the renowned cartoonist Jon Kudelka and the Bendigo children’s book illustrator Chris Kenny will also be on show.
Local artist Jo Guthrie will be running three Paint’n’Sip sessions across the weekend and the students from the East Loddon College have created Beasts Birds Beyond artwork especially for the exhibition.
“The arts trail slogan is ‘out there – in every way’”, Sue says.
“This will certainly show people how good it is to get out there and enjoy our beautiful part of Loddon shire.” The network of exhibitions that link venues right around the shire is attracting interest from all around the region and Melbourne. 
The installation of artworks begins this week, as halls and other venues prepare for the three days of exhibitions and events.
Wedderburn Korong Vale RSL will host a preview in Wedderburn Literary Institute Hall of an installation prepared by the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum this Sunday.
The opening event of the Arts Trail weekend is next Thursday at the Eucy Distillery Museum in Inglewood where the winners of the inaugural Eucy Art Show will be announced by judge Terry Jarvis.