Marie Jonsson Harrison » Public Sculptures

215 ART and VIRGIN DREAMS

mariejon — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 03:01:38 +0000

ART AND TELEVISION

So those of you who read my art blogs regularly know that I met Richard Branson last year when he was in Adelaide, South Australia for a couple of days. It was all organized by a reporter Paul Makin from Chanel 7 for their Today Tonight program and if you wish to recap on the crazy and very convoluted story of how we finally pulled that off here is a link 189 ART and Kissing RICHARD BRANSON

It is no secret that I have long admired Richard both for his entrepreneurships and also for the man that he is. Meeting him was great and the fact that he genuinely seemed to like my art made it all the better. However there is still a bit of unfinished business – I still want to paint one of Richard’s Virgin planes!

VIRGIN DREAMS

Dreams, we all have to have dreams don’t we, goals to work towards and ideas to inspire us? Dreaming, well daydreaming is an essential quality for an artist and one of my dreams is to one day paint a plane. Above you can see one of the ideas I have for a Virgin plane and I do have quite a few other ideas too of course. It would be something to see my artwork in mega size and flying in the sky that’s for sure, I just love to see art on airplanes.

PROJECT MAPPING

I guess the closest I have been to having my work in a large scale was late last year when my paintings were used for project mapping in Warsaw, Poland. Projection mapping or Video mapping also known as spatial augmented reality is when an image is enlarged to cover an entire building and then superimposed in a light show. In my case in Poland my artwork was also animated so it was a moving image. If you want to find out more about that and a bit of the history of Project mapping here is the artblog 205 Projection Mapping & Art in Animation

PUBLIC SCULPTURES

Well I guess also into the category of large scale would be the public sculptures that I have done over the years. The largest public sculpture of mine spans 44 meters across and is 3 meters high sitting as you enter the town of Balaklava in South Australia’s mid north. It was commissioned by the Wakefield Regional Council and took some 18 months to complete. Dale Gathercole and my husband were an integral part as were many many volunteers from the local community who all helped to make it happen.

THE CENTENARY OF FEDERATION GATEWAY

The idea is that the whole sculpture looks like a Federation house, complete with roof and a veranda. In the center are two six meter by three and a half meter walls, located at 22.2 degree angle to each other which are rendered to look like sandstone with red brick quoins on the corners and around the doors.

One wall represents 1901 and the other 2001. In the 1901 doorway we see the back of a life-size woman, made from hand-made ceramic tiles and mosaic, strutting through the door in all her finery, long dress, hat and umbrella in hand. Through the 2001 doorway, she emerges as the modern woman, complete with short skirt, sunglasses and a mobile phone. This reflects the changes that our society has undergone during the last 100 years.

If you would like to find out a little more about that here is the link 109 Stories behind the Wall – Public Sculpture

RICHARD BRANSON’S PHONE CALL

So why not dream big I say you never know what awaits around the corner, maybe one day I will get a call from Richard Branson saying “Hey Marie, I’m sending my private plane over to pick you up – we really have to discuss your idea of painting a plane for me!”

Here is a quote I think fits well here by H.F. Hedge;

“Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare.”

Till next time happy painting or sculpting or daydreaming.

Love Marie xxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES. Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

155 The Art of Packing Light

mariejon — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:35:28 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURES & SUITCASES

The art of packing light is obviously not something that I have mastered and with all the travelling that I have done for work firstly as a model and then as an artist and just for pleasure that’s a real shame. I always find that I need whatever it was that got eliminated from the suitcase, so instead I carry everything but the kitchen sink around with me and get held up at Customs & Security at every airport for some reason or another!

This Public Sculpture is part of 9 freestanding sculptures of mine at the Airdale Primary School in Port Pirie, South Australia

As you can hear we have just come home from another trip, this time to Europe for 5 weeks and what a fantastic time it was too. Hubby did all the coordinating and organizing over the net with hotels, planes, cars, pickups and trains which worked a treat.

PAINTING INSPIRATIONS

We arrived in London where after some sightseeing caught a flight to Gothenburg, Sweden (3 nights), Sundsvall, Sweden (2 nights), Stockholm (4 nights), Katowice, Poland (2 nights), Prague, Czech Republic (4 nights), Budapest, Hungary (3 nights), Zagreb, Croatia (1 night) Dubrovnik (3 nights), Venice (2 nights) Amalfi coast (7 nights), Paris (3 nights) and then back to London before the 30 hour flight home again.

Of course there are lots of travelling tales and inspirations for future paintings and art blogs to come but what I will start with today is the reason we undertook this trip in the first place.

ART & THE LOVE OF ITALY

This Mermaid painting sold in Japan but I think the inspiration comes from under the sea by Hotel Onda Verde, on the Amalfi coast.

Our good friend Robert had decided that Italy may be a great spot to celebrate “that” big birthday in. His lovely wife Christina’s family comes from there so they wanted to share this wonderful country with the rest of us. That’s how come 11 people from Australia found ourselves at the stunning hotel Onda Verde situated in between Positano and Amalfi at Praiano, a hotel fashioned into the side of a cliff overlooking the blue, blue Mediterranean sea. Not just any hotel mind you but one where the owners, staff, rooms, ambiance, food & drinks were second to none – just ask Pierce Brosnan or Jessica Alba, as they stayed there too just recently!

ARTFORM IN A GROUP

As if that wasn’t perfect enough we then had the good fortune of having a group who just fitted together like a glove. All the elements were there; we had Judy who supplied the guts and hutzpa, her husband Jeff gave us irresistible one liners, Coralie sorted out any kinks in the tour/gratuities arrangements and Emma was the expert tour guide with her knowledge on everything Italian whilst her boyfriend Paul keep us amused with funny stories (my cheeks still hurt from laughing). Carol added sensibility & practical advice and her hubby Graham was the thoughtful one (he saved me from swimming all the way to Capri) Husband Bryan was the steadying hand as always whilst Christina and Robert the perfect hosts, showing us “their” Italy on tours & boats and treating us to drinks and long lunches. The usual Mr Grumpy was nowhere to be found and in his place was Mr Perfect and clearly I bought the birthday boy the wrong T-shirt as the photo shows! Oh and I’m not sure what I added to the group but I like to think it was a touch of enthusiasm for life!

INSPIRATIONS FOR ARTWORKS TO COME

I think perhaps all of us fell a little in love with Italy and everything Italian- their passion, the language, scenery, people, wine & Limoncello and the food.

I always thought the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach but go figure it works just the same on a woman, lol. My mantra has always been; “Just because I am on a diet, doesn’t mean I cannot look at the menu, right?” Yes and look I did, well what’s a hot-blooded girl to do when the “chef extraordinaire” says he is making love to you with his eyes and through his food, bringing out dish after dish and then watches every bite you take….

Oh temptations… here are a couple of quotes on the subject which amused me;

“ Nothing makes it easier to resist temptation than a proper bringing-up, a sound set of values – and witnesses.”

(Franklin P. Jones)

“Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.”

(Author Unknown)

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting!

Love Marie xxx

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also enjoy these about our cruising adventure; 139 Cruising on the Pacific Jewel & Art and 138 Leaving Sydney Harbour & Art and 144 Mystery Island & Art and 143 ART, LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ISLE OF PINES and 149 Art,Lifou and Sharks

(c)

132 Age is just a state of mind in Art

mariejon — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:15:20 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

This artwork “Our Richest Treasures” made from handmade ceramic and mosaic is part of a public sculpture called the Federation Gateway Sculpture at the entrance to Balaklava a town in the Mid North, South Australia and celebrates the senior citizens which are among our richest treasures. Here is some links to more about this Public Sculpture; 109 Stories behind the Wall and 121 Volunteers our Backbone

CERAMIC AND MOSAIC

The 1901 wall depict 9 separate stories and the 2001 wall tells another 8 stories of both ordinary and famous people who have connections with our district. Their tales are told in pictures and words with my hand-made ceramic tiles surrounded by mosaic and the words which has been etched on aluminium plaque.

THE ART OF A SENIOR CITIZEN

As the Australian Government announced recently that they are going to pay employers a bonus for hiring and retaining older workers I thought this artwork of Mrs. Clare Bowers was topical for my blog this week. (More on Clare later).

The plan is to pay a $1000 bonus to employers that recruit workers aged 50 years or over for more than three months and the government are also extending programs that provide support to employers who promote older workers and will put more funds toward career advice services and also education for mature workers.

I am one of these people that think that age is just a state of mind and the thought that there is that age discrimination in the workplace is just ridiculous. A good mix of young and old and people from all different cultures and ways of life is the key. You need young people who can look at a task or problem with fresh eyes and ideas and also the older person with life experience and some mileage under their belt to provide a balance in most work areas.

That said my first occupation as a Fashion Model was a very youth oriented profession, although I have looked on with amusement as there has been quite a movement there too into the older woman who still looks great. To me it does make a lot of sense to have the clothes that are aimed at the more mature bracket modelled by the women that are actually going to wear them.

THE ART OF STAYING YOUNG

From my observation it all started by Lauren Hutton being retained by Revlon during the 80’s and 90’s and then followed by the likes of Elle MacPherson, Christie Brinkley and Jerry Hall. In the last couple of years the Couger trend has really caught on and the oldest model rumoured to be hitting the catwalk is Carmen Dell’Orefice who at 79 still looks fantastic (with a little help I presume).

Mia Freedman from Mama Mia said recently “ As far as I can tell, there are only two ages for female celebrities: Dame Judi Dench and 30. At Dame Judi’s end, it’s pretty lonely. Just her and Betty White. At the other end, it’s gridlock with everyone from Courtney Cox, 47, to Lindsay Lohan, 26, visually colliding at the age of 30.

This is weird. Especially when – like me – you fall into the twilight zone between 30 and Betty White.”

Mia does have a point and she is not suggesting that we stop dying our hair, fight wrinkles and go without makeup but she does go on to say that there is a time when you go from looking amazing for your age to looking a little weird and then seriously weird, lol.

These days the designers in New York and Paris are getting on the band wagon and hiring the older birds, much to the audiences delight who laughed, clapped and chatted throughout the shows which is not always the norm at these events.

THE ART OF AGING GRACEFULLY OR NOT

What has made me cross in the last couple of months though is the flack that both Demi Moore and Madonna have been getting from some reporters. In this day and age when so many of us are careful about what we eat and stay fit and healthy. Why shouldn’t Madonna be up there on stage for the release of her new album, dancing as if her pants were on fire! She is probably fitter now than ever, looks great and sounds great. Maybe there is something in the saying; “ that you are only as old as the man you feel.”

Madonna had the last laugh though as her album has shot up the hits list and went straight to number one. MDNA is Madonnas 12^th album to top the chart, beating Elvis Presley’s record which stands at 11. So obviously she still resonates with both the young and the older demographic. Demi Moores story on the other hand has been a little sad as we have watched her desperate attempt to keep up with her daughter and her young friends through a haze of alcohol and drugs after her very public breakup from her much younger man.

I would be the last person to cast a stone her way as I still love to party – if there is music playing I will still dance till the sun comes up and partake in a drink or two.

THE ART OF GROWING UP

Chili Davis quote “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional”, which brings me back to this Centenary of Federation Sculpture and Clare Bowers.

When Clare was eighty years old she was most interested to see the silos being built in her home town of Balaklava. So on one of her shopping trips she asked one of the builders if it was possible to go to the top of the silo. The arrangements were made and at 5pm on the allotted day the residents to the local old folks home where Clare lived, were ushered outside to a prime viewing spot on the footpath. They were all very surprised to see Clare hoisted to the top of the silo in a safety cage.

Clare certainly had a zest for life and at the age of eighty-seven she again soared to great heights, this time as the eldest passenger of the Balaklava Gliding Club.

I think these quote fits well here the first one by Judith Regan;

“The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible”

And the second from Henry David Thoreau who said;

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm”.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and staying alive to you all,

Love Marie xxxx (c)

128 Sculpture and Women

mariejon — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 02:07:01 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

These 2 images are from the” Centenary of Federation Gateway” sculpture which I was commissioned to design and make by the Wakefield Regional Council and took some 18 months to complete. The whole town came on board and helped and we had art workshops both in schools and other locations. These panels stand in the middle of the door way on each side of the “house” and I was assisted in making them by Emily Brown and Jessica Wood, two high school students and Janette Hancock. Here is a little more about this amazing project- 109 Stories behind the Wall and 121 Volunteers our Backbone

The sculpture was officially opened on the 23^rd November 2001 by Neil Andrew MP, Member for Wakefield following a community celebration in Balaklava, South Australia. The Centenary of Federation Gateway stands proudly as you enter into the township and is believed to be the largest Naive Sculpture in the Southern Hemisphere spanning 44 meters across. The idea is that the whole sculpture looks like a Federation house, complete with roof and a veranda. So in the center are two six meter by three and a half meter walls, located at 22.2 degree angle to each other which are rendered to look like sandstone with red brick quoins on the corners and around the doors.

One wall represents 1901 and the other 2001. In the 1901 doorway we see the back of a life-size woman, made from hand-made ceramic tiles and mosaic, strutting through the door in all her finery, long dress, hat and umbrella in hand. Through the 2001 doorway, she emerges as the modern woman, complete with short skirt, sunglasses and a mobile phone.

ART AND WOMEN

My idea was of course to reflect the changes that our society has undergone in the last 100 years, but more particularly how much life has changed for women.

Women’s Suffrage is the right for women to both vote and run for office and the movement originated in France in the late 1700s’ and just think how brave and strong they had to be in those days to stand up for their rights in such a man’s world. They actually used pretty strong tactics too with throwing small bombs, setting fire to letterboxes, chaining themselves to fences and smashing windows. What they wanted was just a “say” about how the country was run without any restrictions, not to depend on whether the woman was married or worked and paid tax or owned property or land, as that was sometimes the case.

Shortly after Federation the government in Australia passed the act which allowed women to both vote and stand for federal election which then happened in 1903. This was the case only for white women unfortunately, as the aboriginal women had to wait nearly another 60 years for that right, until 1962. Australia was the first country to allow women to run for parliament, and now we finally have our first woman Prime minister, oh well Rome wasn’t built in a day!

ART AND THE WAR

Things changed again during the First World War when all the blokes went off to fight and the jobs they left behind still had to be done, so women rolled up their sleeves and went to work in a paid capacity and found out that in most cases they actually liked it! So much so that when the blokes returned from war there were quite a few unhappy households I’d imagine.

Little by little the women chipped away at their cause and when World War 2 broke out and such a lot of men went to war the Australian women had to take over their jobs to keep the society going. They also founded an Australian Women’s Land Army to work on farms where there were no men left. By this stage thousands of women nurses also served overseas, some were taken as prisoners and 71 were killed while on duty.

By now the women could prove that they were able to do the same jobs as the men and some were very reluctant to be pushed out of the workforce when the men returned. Many did stay on and work although the pay for women was still a long way of equal.

Both making this sculpture and then writing about it has been a fantastic journey for an artist, with many more artworks and paintings and art-blogs to come.

It wasn’t until the 1960’s that equality came to the bedroom with the availability of the PILL. Now suddenly women could have the same sexual freedom as the men without fearing an unwanted pregnancy, which meant women could choose whether to have a relationship or a career.

Of course they had to fight to get the pill in some cases where the Doctors refused to prescribe them on grounds of it leading to promiscuity!

So it was fine for men to be promiscuous but not women –69. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander I say! (use that link to have a look at a painting and blog on the same subject).

What followed was the Sex, Drugs and Rockn’Roll era so maybe they had a point, the free love and peace of the Flower Power Children. The miniskirts and Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton , Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda were the women in the news. However here in Australia women could still not go and have a drink in a bar without a man! It took 2 strong willed women who chained themselves to a bar in Brisbane to change that law.

Then of course came the outspoken Germaine Greer and her book The Female Eunuch in the 70’s and the burning of the bras in the street. In 1976 was the first Reclaim the Night protests held in Europe against violence and sexual assault. This movement spread across the world.

In 1979 the first leader of a western country was elected – the Iron Lady; Margaret Thatcher as the British Prime Minister and later Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to be elected as the Prime Minister in Pakistan, the first woman to be elected to lead a Muslim country.

In anycase we have come a long way and us women living now have a lot to be thankful for and owe a great debt to the women who paved the way for us.

I have to say in all this that all the men that I have known without exception have been lovely and I have been lucky to grow up in an era where I have been able to follow my dreams without restrictions. Here is a blog about the other side of the coin – 31. Men I Salute you (continuing Melbourne tales).

I think this quote fits well here by Dwight D. Eisenhower;

“Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him”.

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting everyone!

Love Marie xxx (c)

124 The Pedal Wireless & Public Sculpture

mariejon — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:03:28 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

Alf Traeger, “Wiring the shed to the farm house seemed a natural step to take for an inventive ten year old boy living on a farm opposite the Dalkey cemetery. He never dreamed that these early tinkering would be so vital to a nation. By 1927 Alf Traegar had invented the pedal wireless, enabling isolated outback Australians to communicate; making the flying Doctor a reality and educating thousands of youngsters through the School of the Air.”

The above paragraph is what is written on a plaque next to this ceramic and mosaic panel which is part of the Centenary of Federation Gateway Sculpture situated in Balaklava, South Australia. If you would like to recap and see & read more about this sculpture use these links for the art blogs; “Stories behind the Wall”. & “Volunteers our backbone “

ARTISTIC VISION

According to Alf Traeger’s stepdaughter Glenda Shepherd who still lives in Balaklava where Alf grew up, after moving there from Victoria. He was very interested from an early age in anything mechanical and surprised the whole family by building a telephone line from his house to a shed on the property some fifty meters away, at that time 1907 he was only twelve. He had used a pitchfork as a magnet for the telephone, the diaphragms were the tops of tobacco tins and to make the microphone carbon granules he used pieces of charcoal from the stove. Alf went on to do a mechanical & electrical engineering course and set up a small electrical business making generators and radio transmitters. In 1925 Alf met Padre John Flynn who traveled extensively in the outback of Australia and his dream was to be able to bring medical help where ever it was needed. His vision was a communication system that would be able to bring “Flying Doctors” to the outback. So Alf started working on this idea and after thee years of experimenting Alf was able to produce the “Pedal Wireless”.

PEDDLING ARTIST

I was actually very fortunate to have tried out this contraption myself many years ago. You see very close friends of ours Bill & Lorna Wilson who at one stage were the largest landowners in the Southern Hemisphere had the “Pedal Wireless” both at Frome Downs Station and Werocata in Balaklava. The original one was battery driven but that proved costly and unreliable so therefore the pedals from a bicycle was added. So you could sit on this contraption and peddle with the legs and the hands could tap out the message by Morse code. Alf set up a “mother station” in Cloncurry and then installed 6 smaller “baby sets” in cattle stations and at Birdsville Hospital. The first message was from Augustus Downs station some 300 km away but the “pedal wireless” could send and receive messages at least 800 km away.

As the Morse code was a bit tedious Alf designed a keyboard in 1931 and later it was replaced by voice. Now the isolated people of the outback were able to reach out for help and receive a diagnosis to their ailments and immediate instruction in first aid if that was needed.

THE ART OF THE FLYING DOCTOR

From this initiative Alf was able to help John Flynn with the first Flying Doctor service called Aerial Medical Service which started in 1928 came into its own with the “pedal wireless” in 1929 and slowly found its feet. Qantas supplied them with their first aircraft and in 1942 the service changed its name to the Flying Doctors Service, later on in 1955 added the Royal to the name; Royal Flying Doctors Service.

The “Pedal Wireless” also was instrumental in facilitating the long distance learning the kids of the outback enjoyed with School of the Air which started in 1951. This meant that the school age children did not have to go away to boarding school but could be taught by teachers from far away.

So thank you very much Alfred Traeger, you did good!

So here is a quote I think fits well here by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg;

“Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright Ideas closer together”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx (c)

121 Volunteers our Backbone – Public Sculpture

mariejon — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:20:21 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

As promised here is a bit more about The Centenary of Federation Gateway sculpture, this time I want to tell you about the wonderful community spirit that helped to make this project possible.

You may want to recap to Stories of the Wall, to see main structure of this sculpture, although images of the sculptured fence are yet to come, in another art blog.

CERAMIC AND MOSAIC

This ceramic and mosaic artwork depict of some of the individuals, schools and service clubs they represent, on parade and without them this project would never have been possible at all. Because there were so many individuals who selflessly spent hours and hours helping on this project I cannot mention each one individually but you all know who you are – and I Thank you so very much.

ARTISTIC VOLUNTEERS

There literally were groups all over the district doing their bit towards the project, all the way from school children who interviewed the old folk in the age care facilities and homes. Schools, child care, kindies, church groups and others who got together to mosaic the farm animals on the fences (that lead out from the sculptured wall) to a regular bunch of arts and craft enthusiasts that regularly met at my studio to mosaic the background to my ceramic images. We got a lot of work done all the while chatting and laughing and drinking cups of coffee together, a nice little interlude for me a normally solitary artist to have some company.

PAINTING ON CERAMIC TILES

Not to mention the team of dedicated individuals that poured and fired the tiles that made up the “veranda’ area in front of the sculpture and also ran workshops where the towns people could paint their own stories on individual tiles. Yes nearly everyone in the local district was involved in this project from the tiniest babies who had their hands and feet imprinted on the tiles to the CEO of the Wakefield Council Phil Barry who so enthusiastically supported it.

I must say that I was very saddened indeed to hear that Phil just recently lost his fight against a brain tumour, something that shocked the whole town. Phil Barry truly was a wonderful and caring man not only to his own family and friends but to the whole town. Rest in peace Phil, we will always remember you.

COMMUNITY ART

That community spirit is something that I miss now that I live in the “big smoke” again, everyone are always ready to lend a hand. There were so many times I was surprised at the generosity of the country people, just imagine the surprise a bunch of us got when the lady living opposite the sculpture (who also worked as a full time primary school teacher, mind you) suddenly appeared with afternoon tea and freshly baked scones, lashings of cream and jam for all the workers.

Dale Gathercole the project co-ordinator whose book “Stories behind the wall” which was published to coincide with the opening of the sculpture said; “ In 2001, the International Year of the Volunteer, to each and every one of you who has selflessly served, a sincere Thank you.”

So here is another quote about volunteering by Elizabeth Andrew that I think fits in perfectly here;

“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and volunteering to you all,

Love Marie xxxx

If you enjoyed this Public Art blog you may also enjoy this one; 77 Book stack water feature Sculpture

109 Stories behind the Wall – Public Sculpture

mariejon — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:19:56 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

These images are from “The Centenary of Federation Gateway” sculpture which was commissioned by the Wakefield Regional Council and took some 18 months to complete. It started as a seed planted by Dale Gathercole and grew into an amazing community project.

Prior to this I had been awarded a mentor-ship grant jointly by the Australia Council, Arts S.A. and the South Australian Arts Trust (Country Arts SA) in 1999 to pursue the idea of turning my colorful naive paintings into public sculptures. My mentor was artist Andrew Stock and the idea was to explore the ideas surrounding the use of colorful mosaics and combining that with clay (ceramic) figures.

As the Centenary of Federation celebrations date was looming Dale, the Headmaster at Balaklava Primary School, thought it would be a great idea to mark that in some way in our community with a permanent landmark. As a friend and a fan of my work, she had watched me transform my art from canvas to sculpture and approached me with the idea of doing a public sculpture.

PLANNING A PUBLIC SCULPTURE

This then led to letting my imagination soar and conceptualizing, developing and planning ideas whereby my husband Bryan’s knowledge as a former builder and draughtsman was invaluable. Robert Veitch from the Wakefield Council was then approached and after presenting drafts, models and detailed budget requirements he whole heartily endorsed the idea and got the council behind it. The project was also helped along the way by Dale’s tenacity of chasing grants, and as a result we received several grants by the Centenary of Federation Committee & Country Arts SA & Veterans Affairs as well as many hundreds of “in kind hours” generously donated by the whole town.

THE CENTENARY OF FEDERATION GATEWAY PUBLIC SCULPTURE

The sculpture was officially opened on the 23^rd November 2001 by Neil Andrew MP, Member for Wakefield following a community celebration in Balaklava, South Australia. The Centenary of Federation Gateway stands proudly as you enter into the township and is believed to be the largest Naive Sculpture in the Southern Hemisphere spanning 44 meters across. The idea is that the whole sculpture looks like a Federation house, complete with roof and a veranda. So in the center are two six meter by three and a half meter walls, located at 22.2 degree angle to each other which are rendered to look like sandstone with red brick quoins on the corners and around the doors.

CERAMIC AND MOSAIC

The 1901 wall depict 9 separate stories and the 2001 wall tells another 8 stories of both ordinary and famous people who have connections with our district. Their tales are told in pictures and words with my hand-made ceramic tiles surrounded by mosaic and the words by Dale which has been etched on aluminium plaques. These are rendered into the wall to allow the sandstone to surround each story. Dale who was the Project co-ordinator also compiled the book “Stories behind the wall” which was also launched on the same day by John Meier MP, Member for Goyder. (Which I have used to jog my memory on the events too!)

There are of course many stories to tell you about the making of this project and I will do that as time goes on I promise! Use this link if you want to see some of my other Public Sculptures.

Here is a quote I like that fits well here by Daniella Kessler,

“You can do anything if you put your mind to it… and you will succeed when you put your heart into it.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx (c)

77 Book stack water feature Sculpture

mariejon — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:22:46 +0000

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

This water feature sculpture is one I was commissioned to do for the Balaklava Library (mid-north in South Australia), a few years ago. I had of course lots of fun designing this sculpture and as I love both the water and books, so it was no stretch. It is made from hebel and handmade ceramic and mosaic and took hours and hours to complete.

SCULPTURE GARDEN

The mural, water feature sculpture and garden were created in memory of Des Ross in recognition of his service to the local area as well as Australia. Des was both the President of the Local Government Association as well as the Australian Local Government Assoc., and a board room in Canberra is named “The Des Ross Room” in his honor. I will tell you more about him another time when I talk about the mural which accompanied this sculpture.

ART AND LOVE OF WATER

My love for the water started early in Sweden when I as a little girl where I used attend “learn to swim” during the summer months and would spend all my available time in the water at Lake Malaren which is the third largest lake in Sweden. When I think about it I was also rather fond of the yummy freshly baked bun all the children were supplied with (less so of the lukewarm milk that went with it, yuck!)

SWIMMING & PAINTING

When my own children here in Australia went to primary school and I occasionally helped out with the schools swim lessons it was suggested that I may want to get paid as well. So I went and did the AustSwim course and got my accreditation. It was a fantastic way of spending some extra time with my kids and also getting out of the art studio, mixing with people and getting paid at the same time. The swim teachings grew into 12 weeks of the year and as the hours were 9-3pm I could still get quite a few hours done in the art studio when I got home. Leading up to exhibitions etc I would even take the paintings to the pool and paint during my lunch time to keep up.

I really enjoyed the company of the other instructors and also found it very satisfying to see the children gain confidence in the water and eventually learn to swim. My only beef was sometimes when the weather was freezing and we had to spend every lesson in the water, thank god for wet suits I say. I think that perhaps that is why quite a lot of swimming instructors have a bit of shall we say- extra padding on their bones. I would look at them with envy as they frolicked in the water whilst my lips were turning blue, lol.

So it was a combination of the cold and the following tale that made me apply for the Instructor in Charge job, where I would be spending more time doing the admin work than in the water.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

We had a lot of special needs children at the school with various problems and one of them I will call ‘Neville’ who was 16 years old and a big guy with Down’s Syndrome whose party trick was to run out of the changing rooms starkers to the delight and amusement of the other kids who thought it was so funny to see us instructors trying to get him to go back and put his pants on.

Then it was the time when I was in the water and trying to teach him how to swim. We were playing a shark game – I was chasing him and being the shark, we had lots of fun and were both squealing in delight. However the tables turned when it was his turn to play shark and he took it absolutely seriously and I nearly drowned in the process. Lucky for me another instructor noticed the “shark attack” and stopped him. Lesson learned, Neville just did not realize his own strength, lol.

So here is a thought for all of us from Ramakrishna (mystic) which I like,

“Live like a mud-fish: its skin is bright and shiny even though it lives in the mud.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting,

Love Marie xxx (c)

If you would like to see some art blogs about other Public Sculptures here are some links;109 Stories behind the Wall and121 Volunteers our Backbone and 128 Sculpture and Women

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES. Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.