Local artists will get to work tomorrow to transform Patloch Lane — off Liebig Street between Timor and Koroit streets and just up from the Whalers Hotel — with lightboxes, stencil art, furniture and a mural.

The project was officially launched last night and draws on the Warrnambool City Council’s Hidden Histories Strategies adopted earlier this year.

Artists Fiona Clarke, Kate Gane, Jessica Meggs and Sarah Carrucan will contribute work.

The laneway is already home to a fish mural by Nathan Pye and the new additions will continue the underwater theme.

Clarke and Gane are working together to create a whale design on the laneway pavement and lightboxes along the walls.

A blue whale design will be carved into the pavement before the artists get to work on the design.

The pair’s aim is for the whale to look almost like a fossil protruding from the ground. “We really liked the idea of using the bones,” Gane said.

“We talked about the importance of bones and the meaning of the fossil. It reveals hidden histories, it reveals the past, it reveals layers of time, so we wanted to work with this theme.”

Fine furniture maker and woodworker Carrucan said she was delighted to be involved in the project.

“This is really exciting,” she said. “The seating will probably be made of a spotted gum-type timber, a nice hardwood that will last a long time. It will probably be something sleek and simple to fit in with the curve and shape of the whale.”

Meggs will use skills gained through council-organised workshops with some of Australia’s best street artists to create a mural on the lane’s western end.

Work on the laneway is expected to be complete by June 19.