CommunityandPublicArtDesign,DevelopmentandManagement

Art in the Park

 Community Artworks commissioned by Mirvac WA Pty Ltd

Collaborative artists:  Gloria Kearing and Robert Ewing

Community Partners: Winjan Aboriginal Corporation and community members.

Gloria and I were commissioned to design and produce artworks for Quandong Park within the Seascapes development located in Halls Head, Mandurah WA.  I had collaborated with Gloria numerous times in the past, and we have a good working relationship and appreciation for the skills each of us brings to the creative partnership. Our brief was to develop significant public artworks that could involve local community members from Winjan Aboriginal Corporation, Mandurah.   As lead artist in the project I was concerned about the community member skills base, enthusiasm and committment to participate in the artwork development and making.  However, after careful consideration a design concept was developed that could be successfully completed by the two of us should the unknown variables prove to be an absolute minimum. 

The design proposal was endorsed by Mirvac and incorporated limestone blocks carved with simple designs based upon the 6 Nyungar seasons.    Gloria and I engaged interested community members in a design workshop and participants were encouraged to explore the cultural significance and particular relationship of various flora and fauna to the traditional Nyungar seasons.  Simple designs were developed as a result of the workshop enquiry and translated into carved limestone block reliefs. The carving process was very interesting, especially in the way that some designs were determined by the natural makeup of the limestone blocks.  Sometimes hardened areas of fossillised remains were encountered, requiring the carved line to shift and take a course of its own determination. Throughout the artmaking process we maintained an open studio environment and encouraged all to become involved.  We also developed various metal based features that were incorporated into the final artworks.

                                                                                                                      These artworks are located at Quandong Park, Quandong Way, Halls Head, Mandurah WA