Category: blog

Unfortunately, I am not referring to any fun type of advertising.  The advertising I elude to is the advertising of my application to the council to change the use of 49 Porter Street, Prahran from an office space to a gallery space.

After 80 days, the council have finally printed this fluorescent yellow sign for me to stick in my window to let my neighbours and nearby residents know about my cunning mission to help exhibit aspiring and emerging artists. 

I’m pretty sure I could have put the sign together in less than 80 days.  In a pointillist style with a 0.01mm fineliner.  Whilst playing the piano.  With my hands tied behind my back.  Standing on my head.  In the dark. 

The fluorescent yellow sign needs to be up for at least 14 days.  The council have also sent letters to 110 of my neighbours and nearby residents to let them know of my application and their right to object… all at a direct cost (to me) of $600 (+ the original application fee of $502).  The purpose of this exercise?  To give my neighbours and nearby residents the opportunity to object to my dastardly plan. 

Seriously though, this is all a part of the process and the most important thing for us to remember is that we are on our way!

The tribe has spoken, and after a total of 20 votes there was a tie between window option 2 (silver on black + silver) and window option 5 (silver on black + black).

Rather than flip a coin to decide to between the two options, I decided on a more considered approach.  Which window would be look best during both day and night?  I think option 2’s silver writing on a dark background would work better than option 5’s black writing on a dark background.

And so we have a winner… window option 2!  Thank you for your votes!

Okay, I’ll admit that I am starting to get excited by the smallest things when it comes to the gallery.  During the past weekend, we made another small step towards completion.

With four walls now fully prepared, we installed the hanging rails.  I subsequently got carried away and then hung three pictures.  After all, I needed to check that they worked!

The walls, hanging rails, and lighting have all come together just I had imagined, and the gallery is now really starting to take shape.

I heard from the council yesterday and they have said (again) that advertising (of my permit) should start soon, which means we’re about 6 weeks away from opening.  Happy days!

Whilst my planning application is still caught up in the webbiest web of the reddest of red tape, I am still progressing with getting the gallery ready for its grand opening.

A part of this, I would really like to finalise the sign writing by the end of this week. I’m planning on keeping it very simple so as to not obstruct any of the work that will be hanging in the window. Whilst the font is also not yet decided, it will also be simple and easy to read.

I need your help with colours. Here are 5 examples that I mocked up using MS Paint. The text is the same in each photo; the only difference is the colour scheme. You can click on an image to make it larger. Which do you like best? Please help by voting below!

Voting is now closed.