Art in the Public Space
As we go about our daily business, our encounters with art in the public spaces we move through make us think about those places in ways we wouldn’t otherwise. Not only does the artwork itself demand attention, it also brings the landscape around it into sharper relief. And because it’s in a public space, we talk, debate and argue about it with other people, making it the perfect vehicle to celebrate, memorialise, mourn or debate issues of local consequence.
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Centenary of Federation Gateway in Balaklava by Marie Jönsson-Harrison -
What was once a rural railway siding in a declining town has become South Australia’s newest tourism destination. This project was part of Creating Coonalpyn, a suite of arts projects that has secured a future for the town. Conceptually, whilst essentially portraiture, it is not representative of individuals, but a collective story that relates to the growth in creativity, community spirit and hope for the future that Creating Coonalpyn had already begun to yield. The fundamental power in the design lies in choice of local children to represent renewal and regeneration, rather than rely on oft-used historical, nostalgic themes. (Photo: Julie Barrie) -
What was once a rural railway siding in a declining town has become South Australia’s newest tourism destination. This project was part of Creating Coonalpyn, a suite of arts projects that has secured a future for the town. Conceptually, whilst essentially portraiture, it is not representative of individuals, but a collective story that relates to the growth in creativity, community spirit and hope for the future that Creating Coonalpyn had already begun to yield. The fundamental power in the design lies in choice of local children to represent renewal and regeneration, rather than rely on oft-used historical, nostalgic themes. (Photo: Glenn Power) -
A detail from a series of artworks commissioned by the Padthaway Progress Association for town parks. Artwork by local artists from Gallery 54. Funded by Country Art SA through the Regional Arts Fund, Australia Council, Tatiara District Council and local community donations. -
John Turpie, Everyone is a boat person, Elliston, 2002 (whilst Sculpture on the Cliffs was essentially an ephemeral outdoor exhibition, there are still several of the works still on the cliffs years later – this is one of them - they appear on google maps.) -
Well known for its sculptures on the cliffs around Waterloo Bay, in 2011 Elliston brought the art into the centre of town with a 60 metre long "story fence", a linear, interactive sculpture/safety barrier by local artists, Dave Beaty, Di Frame, Julie Allchurch and Tod Romanowycz, between Beach Terrace and children's playground. -
Indigenous Installation – Renmark, artist Glenn Romanis with members of Riverland Indigenous Care Inc Aerial view of contemporary Indigenous installation on the forecourt at Country Arts SA’s Chaffey Theatre, Renmark. Riverland Indigenous Care Inc was supported by Country Arts SA to engage Indigenous artist Glenn Romanis to consult with the local Indigenous community to design and create an installation for the grounds of the Chaffey Theatre in Renmark. Members of Riverland Indigenous Care Inc were keen to engage with the wider community through the installation in a public space thereby gaining a broader and diverse audience for the work and exposing the wider community to contemporary Indigenous art. The installation was opened during Country Arts SA’s state conference Vines Wines and Creative Minds in October 2005. -
Beachport Entrance Project. Artists Andrew Stock and Tony Rosella. Photo Italo Vardaro -
Community artwork for Plenty in Streaky Bay, part of a Festival Harvest the 2000 Telstra Adelaide Festival Regional Program. Photo: Italo Vardaro -
‘Flora and Fauna’ (2006), Mark De Nys, Craige Andrae and Hugh from SPUD with the artwork in the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden, Port Augusta ‘Flora and Fauna’ (2006) is a large curved panel of steel featuring a laser cut drawing of an arid landscape. The negative cut outs are numbered and their corresponding positives are positioned discretely throughout the garden to await discovery. -
Waterworks, 1997 -
Merran Koren of Mount Gambier nearly finished with her sculpture as part of the Limestone Coast Sculpture Symposium. Photography: Merilyn de Nys -
Dressing the Building Victor Harbor, featuring Artists Mike Tye and mentee Didge McHughes was a 2014 project at the Victor Harbor Medical Clinic, a creative partnership between Country Arts SA’s Change and Adaptation Project and Southern Adelaide Fleurieu Kangaroo Island (SAFKI) Medicare Local. Image: Didge McHughes, Steve Saffell, Mike Tye & Jasmine Bald at the opening of the Mosaic Mural.
Much beautiful, functional and thought-provoking public art has, and continues to be, produced through our arms-length funding programs, but the 1997 waterworks project brought management in-house, crossed regional boundaries, and drew on broad funding sources for the first time.
Using Community and Cultural Development practice as the preferred tool meant it was art by, with, and for the community in which it sat, with industry and local government active partners in the conversation, debate and practical rollout. Based on profoundly human, and therefore wildly varying responses to water, not only were multiple public art pieces created in five regional communities (the Gawler Ranges, Keith, the Riverland, Marree and Penneshaw), it created a space for local debates to be aired.
Emboldened by the statewide reach of waterworks, we leapt into planning A Festival Harvest for the 2000 Adelaide Festival, which marked an organisational shift in funding for public art projects. The model would later be called upon for much of what happened in the Regional Centres of Culture from 2008 and for Change and Adaptation in 2012.
And whilst it’s an arms-length funded project, led by Coorong District Council, it’s hard to ignore the recent success of Creating Coonalpyn, the masterstroke of which was to combine the flagship 30-metre high mural on the town’s grain silos by an international artist with five artist-led community public art projects over two years, transforming the very nature and circumstance of this struggling small town, where people now live with pride in each other and others travel great distances to visit.
