John Petrie, figure in a landscape

HIrsh

Stephen Newton,

East - Sculpture Shows continues the East Coast Thursday Plantation Sculpture Show in Byron Bay, presenting finest contemporary Australian and international sculpture

A New Door Opens For Sculpture in Byron Bay,

New South Wales, Australia

The future was looking bleak for sculpture in our region in late 2007, as the end of the acclaimed annual Thursday Plantation East Coast Sculpture Show in Ballina was announced.

Now, however, Priya Woolston, the inaugural curator of that show, and Dev Lengjel, who has been involved in every sculpture exhibition in the region, have joined forces to become the East Art Services Team - EAST. Their intention is to produce exhibitions of outstanding contemporary sculpture using the landscape as an outdoor gallery and to provide a showcase for the work of the many talented artists of Eastern Australia in general, and the Northern Rivers in particular.

Byron Bay Writers' Festival

EAST – East Art Services Team – created our debut showing of sculpture and other art work as part of the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival, July 26 – 28 2008.

The site for the Writers’ Festival is also the proposed site for our first large exhibition in Byron Bay in May 2009, when the East Coast Sculpture Show will evolve from its previous home at Thursday Plantation in Ballina, northern NSW. The new exhibition site is one component of the planned redevelopment of the former Byron Bay Beach Resort, and will comprise the previous golf course, regenerated with coastal forest and with wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean, as well as the forest edge of Belongil Creek, running in to the ocean.

For the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival 2008 we invited eight Byron Shire artists – John Dahlsen, Marcus Grant, Noel Hart, Christina Khumari, Erika Mayer, Suvira McDonald, Ivana Perkins and Potts – to contribute works for both outdoor and indoor placement, and we were delighted that our first exhibition reflected the very high calibre of artists in our region with some memorable works.

The response both from the festival public and from the festival organisers was unequivocally positive and enthusiastic: we are planning that this will become a regular part of the festival in the future.   

Please follow the link to get an idea of this years sculptural presentation at the Writers Festival - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI1gUvpEB68
Julius Dunnelady of the reef

  Kyogle

At the end of September EAST will launch a sculpture project in Kyogle, supported by Kyogle Shire Council through their Futures Fund, and under the auspices of the Kyogle Community Economic Development Committee. The Kyogle exhibition is the first stage of a proposed larger project, which will include a symposium and exhibition planned for late 2009.

This year’s exhibition is timed to coincide with ‘A Country Affair’, a Kyogle event which includes a local produce fair and which takes place alongside the annual Kyogle Show, 26-28 September. This exhibition will feature the work of country artists, especially from the Kyogle region, and will be lit for the evening of the dinner and opened by the President of the Kyogle Show Society.

Hew Chee Fong, falling rock

Daniel Clemmet, bonnet ball

“I’m very happy with the progress that Dev and I have been able to make in planning to bring sculpture once again for public exhibition in our region. It’s such a fascinating art-form, and so exciting to combine art and nature in our beautiful landscapes,” said Priya Woolston.

“I never for a moment thought that sculpture would leave the region. East is the manifestation of our dream to keep sculpture alive in this region. Our aim is to raise the bar for outdoor sculpture events and to share our passion with artists and the public alike.” Dev Lengjel

Both Priya and Dev are looking forward to the opportunity to work with local entities in Kyogle to bring a programme that, it is envisaged, will contribute through art to the enrichment of the community in many ways. For further information about EAST projects please contact either Priya or Dev, as below.

to get in touch with us please mail:

Dev dev@sculptureshow.net

Priya priyawoolston@bigpond.com

Rosato Donatella

east@sculptureshow.net