After three years of hard work, south-west artist David Higgins is ready to show off his latest project - the restored Nirranda Hall.
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Higgins purchased the hall on tender from the Moyne Shire in 2016, after searching for a space to set up a teaching studio for years.
"(The hall) was derelict when I purchased it, but I still felt lucky to get it," he said.
Higgins said he had been surprised by the by the number of people in the Nirranda community who had a connection to the hall.
"It was originally built in 1896, so it must be one of the original halls in the region," he said.
"There has been lots of functions here, weddings, parties, dances. It been a party place for a very long time, and it has a nice vibe.
"We want to capitalise on the locals' empathy for the building and not close it off from them, but not turn it into just a toilet stop for the tourists."
"Many locals have keenly followed this transformation and although still rustic, we have been able to employ locals' expertise to save the old building in the renovation process.
"For now it will be a self-indulgent studio for me, and will turn into a teaching space in time."
An art group from California is already booked to take part in a silk painting workshop in January.
"It is still early days, I will be doing sculpture and silk painting mainly but there will be other options," Higgins said.
"We will run a continual cycle of classes, we want to be able to teach school groups, individual tuition and I want to start an artist-in-residency program.
"We might do photography classes, yoga and tai chi, or music, but the hall still needs some more restoration.
"The hall will be open to the general public to tell them 'we are here', we want to show people what we are doing and get a feel for what (classes) people want to take."
Nirranda Arts studio, in the Nirranda Hall, will be open to the public from 10am on Saturday and Sunday. Classes are planned to start in January 2020.
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