THE last time Melanie Caple was in a Leongatha hospital maternity unit was as a new-born baby.
Now 35 years later she has returned to the new hospital to paint a mural that welcomes a new generation of babies into the world.
Her brightly coloured maternity mural is providing a great backdrop for baby photos.
“Everyone used to have photos taken of their babies at hospital but that sort of fell out of favour, so the maternity department wanted something nice as a backdrop,” Melanie said.
“The midwifery team looked at the type of work I do and said they really love the native foliage and flora, so we went with that.
“I wanted to create a wall that was warm and welcoming and soft whilst also showcasing the native foliage. The hospital has beautiful native gardens, so we wanted to bring a bit of that inside.”
Melanie’s connection to Gippsland Southern Health Service’s Leongatha hospital goes back even further than her birth. One of her grandfathers, Ron Stanley, was a long-term hospital board member and her other grandfather, Eric Caple, was a local farmer who helped clear the site of the current hospital.
Melanie now lives between Fitzroy and Berry Creek in Gippsland and is enjoying the local resurgence of interest in art.
“In the past few years there has been a growing awareness of the arts, including public arts, in Gippsland which has been nice because I have been able to work closer to home,” she said.
As an artist, curator and arts manager, Melanie has worked in multiple capacities within the arts industry. She has a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) from RMIT and holds a Masters of Arts Management.
Her practice incorporates finely detailed oil paintings and large-scale murals, and Melanie has exhibited in various group and solo exhibitions around Melbourne and in Gippsland.
Melanie has been commissioned to create public works in dozens of locations across Victoria, NSW and SA. She also established an arts management company, Arts Eleven Projects, that has managed a number of significant arts projects for clients including Gippsland Art Gallery, St Vincent’s Hospital and Western Health.
