Walk to Art in Melbourne continues . . .

The art of walking continues . . . in 2006, Australian Traveller included the fabulous Walk-to-art tours in its 100 Great Things To Do In Australia You’ve Never Heard Of. Now, on the eve of big plans to expand the unique tours into New York, Michelle McMartin returns to Melbourne for another taste of the city-cum-arts-studio.

When my partner says to me, “We’re off to Melbourne,” I dust off the credit card and gave it a good polish. Chapel Street is mine for the taking.

Like all good men, my partner has organised a romantic gesture for our Melbourne trip. And, like all good men, his timing is impeccable – a romantic gesture that actually stops me from shopping.

When I arrive I discover I’m spending the afternoon on a Walk-to-art tour, a truly unique concept designed and hosted by the fabulous Bernadette Alibrando. (Bernie to everyone.)

DETAILS // Walk-to-art
Tours of Melbourne start at 2pm and end at about 5:30pm, $98 per person. Their first ever tour to New York ran Sept 20 to Oct 3, 2008. 0412 005 901, www.walktoart.com.au

Walk-to-art is exactly that: wandering the streets of Melbourne checking out street art, artists’ studios and artist-run exhibition spaces. “Where does this tour take me?” I ask my partner. “I don’t know!” comes the reply from my romantically clever one. “There’s never an itinerary; you just have to turn up where you’re told to turn up.”

Our tour’s starting point is Section 8, a bar inside an old shipping container. The seating consists of milk crates covered with Hessian bags, and tables are large cable reels – this place is magnificent and a Melbourne secret. We’re off to a good start. Chapel Street can wait.

Bernie spends the first 20 minutes organising coffee and getting to know everyone before we hit the pavement. I’m one of seven in the group. Some of us are arty and some of us are art novices.

Bernie wins me over with her complete frankness at the first space we visit. “I don’t like this,” she blurts out. “It is an incomplete work that is disorganised and lazy.”

Bernie wins me over with her complete frankness at the first space we visit. “I don’t like this,” she blurts out. “It is an incomplete work that is disorganised and lazy.”

This lack of guile immediately validates everyone’s opinion, at the same time dissipating any anxiety a given member of the tour might have about being labelled a philistine should they not like a work. Everyone is part of the arts – and art is for everyone on this tour.

Melbourne is most well known on the international art stage for its street art. In intriguing laneway after intriguing laneway, Bernie gives a succinct overview of all the street art forms; how much work goes into stencilling, what are post-ups and what is graffiti versus street art.

I’m quickly familiar with some of the local street artists. I enjoy Debs’ buxom chicks with big features and big attitude. But my favourite has to be the “fat girl” post-up. If you look up in Melbourne, you find her.

Previously at Flinders Station underground walkway, we drop in on a space called Platform. A number of smaller soft sculptures based around door snakes are exhibited in zoo-like enclosures. I never knew it was there.

Platform has to be one the busiest public spaces in the city and, true to its cultural credentials, Melbourne offers the space to its young and emerging artists.

Bernie ducks into an unassuming art deco building where we find another exhibition space in its foyer. Each original letterbox contains a small black and white backlit image. It’s an apartment block in a laneway and also an art space. Now I’m really getting into the secrets of Melbourne’s art.

At Fortyfive Downstairs, a non-for-profit space for established artists, Bernie has arranged for two artists to talk to us about their works on the wall. It’s the Holy Grail of art; seeing the works through the artists’ eyes and – most importantly – hearing firsthand the context of the work.

Bernie is a pocket dynamo of no pretence. We jump on a tram to see an artist at work. It’s truly unique and somewhat surreal. The studio is in a beautiful old building on Fitzroy Street and the artist had been a resident for 20 years. We get a complete retrospective of her work plus the development of her current art. I feel as though I’m in Paris or New York.

Walk-to-art is a stirring, up-lifting experience for all types – from art enthusiasts to school students and family groups, from country folk to city dwellers. Like all good tours, it ends with a glass of wine, a delicious cheese platter and a bit of a chat. And, life mirroring art, the experience has been different for everyone, yet we all feel much richer and happier for the experience.