Sculpture Show Brimming with Talent

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SCULPTURE SHOW BRIMMING WITH TALENT

The annual Thursday Plantation East Coast Sculpture Show, supported by WHK Rutherfords Financial Advisers, has received a bounty of entries from both established and emerging artists. Now in its 11th year, the region’s premier outdoor art event will open later next month with 63 new works from 58 artists, many of whom are first-time participants.

Curator Priya Woolston is delighted by this year’s influx of creations, which she reports range from delicate glass mosaics to a crashed car. “Such diversity of styles and materials reflects a refreshing inventiveness on the part of our artists. Many draw inspiration from Thursday Plantation’s special environment, which includes open fields and forest groves, and even a ti-tree maze. Each location suggests a different style of work.”

One of the first of its kind in Australia - and still unique for its long season - the Thursday Plantation show has spurred on the development of contemporary sculpture in the Northern Rivers region. Among the locals exhibiting again this year are Suvira McDonald, Potts, Jess Poulsen, Daniel Clemmett and Allen Horstmanshof.

A Newrybar artist, Horstmanshof was co-winner of the 2005 Regional Artist’s prize. This year he is entering two works, one a sculpture in sandstone and the other a new departure made out of hardened paper-pulp. “Without Thursday Plantation, I would not be doing them, as simple as that,” he says. “It’s fabulous having an open venue in this area where there’s a show every year that you can plan for and try new things.”

Another local is Potts of Mullumbimby, who has constructed a 3-metre-long decaying fish from the remnants of a “clinker” boat built around 1939 and last sailed 1999 when it broke up and was washed up on Brunswick Heads beach. As well the original wood, Potts has used copper nails salvaged from the wreck. He says his concept came from a concern about the decay of fish stocks and the quality of coastal environments.

A first-time exhibitor is Garth Lena, an Indigenous artist who recently won a major prize at the Casuarina Sculpture Walk in Tweed Shire. His entry in the Thursday Plantation show is a wood-and-resin rendition of three echidnas, which he says resemble the headland rocks at Fingal Heads, where he lives. In the language of his people, Fingal is “pooningbah”, which means “the place of many echidnas”.

Lena says he loves sculpture because it allows him to express his traditional stories in contemporary forms and materials. Being an aboriginal artist gives him a lot of inspiration to work with. “We have a lot of old stories. You can really let your mind go.”

The Thursday Plantation East Coast Sculpture Show opens on Sunday, September 24, with a garden party and awards ceremony. An added attraction may be the chance to view a large-scale, commissioned community work from aloft a hot-air balloon - albeit this work is weather-dependent . Thursday Plantation is located 20 minutes south of Byron Bay and 1 km north of the Ballina/Byron airport turn-off. It is open seven days a week, from 9am - 5pm, and refreshments and natural-health products can be purchased at the Visitors’ Centre. As well as the annual show, the sculpture park hosts a permanent sculpture collection and a gallery of works for sale that can be viewed at any time. Each year the collection is augmented with award-winning acquisitions from the show.