In the past six years the experience has gone up a notch since art lover and commercial  property developer William Deague combined his passions to turn the concept of art and hotels on its head with the establishment of the Art Series Hotels. Rather than stock-standard reproduction pieces adorning the hotel’s walls, Deague's vision was to place the original artworks of a specific Australian contemporary artist in each of a series of hotels he would open in unique locations nationally. His ambitious plan was called the Art Series Hotel Group project and was launched with a budget of $500 million.

The concept was revolutionary, says in-house art curator Jane O’Neill, as each hotel would take design inspiration from a namesake artist whose works resonate with Deague’s family and may already feature in their private collection. 

“They are passionate collectors and have long been supporters of Australian artists,” she says. “It’s been a balancing act in creating these hotels as you want people to feel relaxed and enjoy art but you don’t want them to feel as though they need a history lesson to understand it.

“From the art industry’s perspective it is a unique concept, but it’s just a different way in exhibiting art and it provides a non intimidating outlet that would bring art to many people who may not otherwise be able to see it and perhaps inspire them to visit other galleries and museums … this goal is quite specific to Bendigo, which is why we have the partnership with the Bendigo Art Gallery.”

The first Art Series Hotel opened in inner Melbourne in 2009. It was called The Cullen after the late contemporary artist Adam Cullen. Deague has since opened another five hotels - with the artist’s original commissioned artworks inspiring the look and feel of ‘their’ hotel. Many of the hotels have won national and international awards for their innovative use of materials and for resonating strongly with guests, including listings on the prestigious Conde Nast Traveler Hot List.

Locations of the hotels are chosen, O’Neill says, for their uniqueness, closeness to a cultural or art hub and ability to offer an affordable price point. The developments include The Schaller Studio in Bendigo, The Olsen, The Cullen, The Larwill Studio and The Blackman in Melbourne and The Watson in Adelaide.

In each property, Deague maintains a commitment for implementing eco-conscious initiatives, O’Neill says, with the purchase of eco-friendly SMART cars and bicycles for guests to hire. Energy-efficient globes and equipment replacements, building control upgrades, drought-resistant gardens and rainwater tanks at selected sites are all a part of the group’s efforts to be conscious of the environment. The group has achieved stellar business success, turning over $75 million with an average occupancy rate of 85 to 95 per cent across all properties. “The figure continues to grow year on year,” O’Neill says. The developments have a combined market value of more than $250 million, making the project a property success story.

Bendigo’s The Schaller Studio is the only hotel built within the grounds of a public hospital, while The Larwill Studio is near the Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville. The Schaller Studio serves a dual purpose of offering easy access to the city’s art precinct, which includes the Bendigo Art Gallery - hailed as Australia’s most successful regional gallery; as well as affordable accommodation for people needing to access the newly developed Bendigo Hospital. The hotel was named after a founding member of Melbourne’s ROAR studio Mark Schaller and is filled with his commissioned and print works. Other artists include Tommy Watson, David Larwill, Charles Blackman and John Olsen.

Degaue says the hotel’s location was a winning combination for the group, the art industry, organisations within the city, locals and visitors.

“The opening of The Schaller Studio is an acknowledgement of the growing art and cultural scene in regional Australia, of which Bendigo is a true leader thanks to the dedication of institutions such as the Bendigo Art Gallery,” he says.

For the Bendigo Art Gallery, a partnership with a hotel is a first, but it aligns with its ethos of offering quality art experiences to the public. The gallery has achieved national and international success in recent years as it hosted prestigious exhibitions in collaboration with the world’s leading museum of art and design, the Victoria and Albert Museum London. Past exhibits, such as Undressed: 350 Years of Underwear in Fashion and Grace Kelly: Style Icon, have attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to the gallery and injected tens of millions of dollars into the regional economy through tourism and increased local spending.

“The brand alignment was an obvious fit from the outset,” says gallery development spokesperson, Hayley Lee Allen. “The Art Series Hotel Group's clever marketing and service ethos is advantageous for the gallery community and general art lovers visiting the gallery that continue on to stay overnight to enjoy Bendigo as the regional cultural hub for art, food and wine. It’s been a very happy partnership thus far.”

The gallery continues to expand and opened a new contemporary wing in March last year as part of a $8.5 million redevelopment.

While bringing together the overall design of any hotel is a challenge in any building project, choosing individual colour palettes for this project was more straightforward, O’Neill says, as designers looked to the Deague’s chosen artworks for guidance and inspiration.

“There are constants throughout each building, but we always use the artist a starting point for a number of things in each - from the interior design, to promotional materials and staff uniforms. For example with Mark’s work we did a number of visits to his studio with colour samples. He uses a lot of cadmium yellow so we used that as a point to weave everything together as a complement to his work.”

And it’s a holistic approach to good design throughout the entire hotel series, she says, with key modern art furnishings by designers such as Phillippe Starck completing the look of each room.

Says O’Neill: “Each hotel evokes the atmosphere of the artist's work, so you get to live in that, at least for a while. The Olsen is more elegant and serene, while The Cullen is more bold and has a bit more of a party atmosphere; and The Schaller Studio can be described as very down to earth, very family friendly and quite cheerful.”

Making The Schaller Studio family friendly, she says, was a deliberate design consideration.

“Given it’s proximity to the hospital and to the gallery the idea was to make it more family friendly and a four-star property - it’s a deliberate choice as you want families to feel relaxed and you cannot build a hotel next to a hospital and demand five-star rates,” she says.

The Schaller Studio’s interior reflects Mark Schaller's contemporary expressionist work with bold abstract shapes and vibrant pops of red, oranges and yellows in sculpture, ceramics and painting inside the hotel and throughout the garden.

The artist is no stranger to the Bendigo region and he has spent much time over the years at the Garage Art Foundry in Elphinstone casting and fabricating his sculptures.

His landscapes are a feature in the hotel and he draws on the colours of central Victorian for inspiration. An impressive eight-metre high mosaic makes a striking statement at the entrance of the hotel. Work commissioned for the 2014 opening includes a series of dozens of paintings of Bendigo bushfire scenes with the contrasting blacks of burnt tree trunks with the rich orange and red tones evoking both the bushfire blaze and the aftermath.

Other pieces continue to draw on inspiration from the city and region; places Schaller visited often in childhood.

“Bendigo is really romantic and has a fabulous history,” says Schaller. “Today the city is the vibrant art centre for regional Victoria and I intend to start uncovering some of its hidden gems.”

As with all the boutique art hotels there’s an art library, funky communal spaces, lively eateries and the availability of art tours. The Schaller Studio, in particular, O’Neill says, offers visitors insight into how to design a room from scratch drawing inspiration from art.

“With The Schaller Studio having originals in every room and foyer, it’s a proposal of how you may live with art, its an experiment in how you may create an interior environment with the artwork as a starting point. All curtains and choices of fabrics used in furniture intended to tie in with the artwork, so you get to experience that and see how it all works together.”

O’Neill says it is important and exciting for the Art Series Hotel Group to be a part of transforming Bendigo into a cultural destination. The group, she says, has even been approached by an independent collector who was keen to share artworks from their private collection in The Cullen.

“The staff are pleased to see guests engaged with the artwork, we offer art tours and pieces are for sale. For us the collaboration opens the avenue of providing package deals to people to stay with us and visit not just the Bendigo Art Gallery but all the city has to offer,” she says.