Denmark Art Club moves into its new headquarters in historic Murphy’s Shed

After three years of running art classes out of her garage, Kendel Lynam has opened the doors of Denmark Art Club’s new headquarters in the historic Murphy’s Shed.

Ms Lynam founded the art club in 2019 out of a desire to create a space for children and people of all abilities to create art in a welcoming and fun environment.

The art club quickly outgrew its humble home in Ms Lynam’s garage and she started looking for a new studio when she came across Murphy’s Shed on Short Street.

The shed was built in 1948 by William Murphy who ran his farm machinery repair business out of the building before his brother Alan carried on trading until 2003.

The shed was in need of a new roof and several costly renovations and with a little bit of help from the community, Ms Lynam was able to complete the build and transform the space.

The Denmark Art Club held its first after-school classes in its new headquarters on Monday where the students learnt how to make colourful scratch art mandalas.

“I started in my garage just over three years ago and it was just an idea that I had that there was nothing for creative kids down here in Denmark,” Ms Lynam said.

“So I thought I’d give it a go and here we are just over three years later with this massive space.

“It’s been a really fun, exciting and exhausting journey.”

While the shed’s interior matches the rustic exterior it has been fitted with an accessible bathroom, coffee station and a spacious workspace with tables and chairs.

“The idea is to run after-school classes for kids and for additional needs people,” Ms Lynam said.

“During the day I ran classes for children being home schooled and classes for adults.”

Ms Lynam said she plans to open up the shed to other artists.

“The idea is for other artists to be able to rent the space and run classes when I’m not using it,” she said.

“I think it could be a really good thing for the town to have a teaching space for artists because there are so many incredible people down here with so much talent.

“We thought it might be a nice way to utilise the space.”