Deakin University Sculpture Walk (Geelong Waterfront Campus)
The audio tour for the Deakin University Geelong Waterfront Campus Sculpture Walk can be downloaded or use the guide below.
Deakin University (Geelong Waterfront Campus) Sculpture Walk Map
1 Bruce Armstrong, Every Bird 1999
Every Bird is typical of the work of the sculptor Bruce Armstrong; a simple monumental form carved directly from a solid log.
Armstrong has stated that sometimes he knows in advance what he wishes to carve, while other times the creature seemingly emerges from the wood as he works at it with a chain saw before defining it more clearly with chisel and mallet. Every Bird is symbolic of the mysterious presence of birds that have intrigued human kind since the ancient Egyptians worshipped Horus the falcon.
The artist's comprehensive retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2016 showed the range of work of this highly individual sculptor. Typically, massive works carved from gigantic logs of Red Gum such as That's What You Think, 1991, dominated the display, but there were also turtles, fish, birds, cats, a bull and a snake.
Perhaps one of his most loved and recognizable works is the immense Eagle at Docklands. It has become a symbol of the Indigenous creator, Bunjil and towering above the traffic, clearly seen from the train, it acts as a respectful reminder of the original Indigenous inhabitants.
2 Augustine Dall'Ava, Light Arc 2002
Augustine Dall'Ava has produced a vast number of smaller sculptures which often include innumerable components assembled into exuberant structures and, as though defying gravity, the colourful elements are often precariously balanced in asymmetrical compositions. Constructed of carved wooden shapes or found stones, these numerous forms are painted in the brightest of primary colours: red, blue and yellow, with black and white for contrast.
Yet when producing large-scale works for architectural settings Dall'Ava has adopted a quite different attitude. Realizing that his work will be set in an environment consisting basically of horizontals, verticals and right angles, he designs sculptures that consist of boldly contrasting geometric forms.
Light Arc, now situated in the internal courtyard of the extensively renovated old wool store on the Waterfront, is strikingly distinctive. Its three simple geometric forms - a cone, a hemisphere and a series of zigzags - present a strong silhouette, further emphasized by the choice of colour - the cone in bright blue, the hemisphere of black granite and the arresting zigzag in reflective stainless steel.
Like the well-known Endless Column by Brancusi, the zigzag seems to imply that it could go forever upward; maybe, though, it's a symbolic representation of a lightning strike?
3 Peter Blizzard, Female Fertility Totem 2007
Totems have been established by many cultures and act as sacred objects, often becoming focal points for ceremonies.
Peter Blizzard produced a number of works incorporating the term 'totem' as though he wished to celebrate female fertility and stress what he regarded as the sacred link between humankind and the earth on which we all live. Invariably a simple vertical with the suggestion of the human figure, this series was constructed of Corten steel and crowned with water-washed stones.
In the smaller of the two works, the fulsome curve suggests the form of a pregnant woman, while in the larger sculpture the same curve is repeated vertically.
It is significant that the artist visited and exhibited in Japan from 1994 and these experiences culminated in a major solo exhibition at the world famous Hakone Sculpture Park in 2006. Blizzard, impressed by aspects of the animistic beliefs still prevalent in Japan, noted that stones often took on a sacred significance as part of the Shinto religion in Japan.
In a fascinating way, the artist who lived in and was deeply connected with the Australian bush, could link two very different cultures, knowing that his favourite saying - 'venerate the earth and walk lightly upon it' - was universally applicable.
4 Geelong Sculptors Inc, The Core Values 2018
Industrial assemblage of handmade wooden coreboxes from Ford Motor Co. Iron Foundary in Geelong.
5 Graeme Johnson, (Untitled) 1975
Cast aluminium object.
6 Jon Tarry, Liminal Blues (maquette), 2001
Gouche, pigment on wood with black marble plinth.
7 Peter Blizzard, Apostle Obelisk 1993
Marble
8 Darren McGinn, Nuclear Sheep, 2008
Ceramic
9 Andrew Rogers, Organis, 1999
Silicon bronze.
10 Geoffrey Bartlett, Flight Over the You Yangs, 1989
Painted bronze and steel.
11 Simeon Nelson, Baroqorab #7, 2005
Perspex, aluminium, plywood.
Location
1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong 3220 Map
Web Links
→ Deakin University (Geelong Waterfront Campus) Sculpture Walk Guide (Interactive Map)
