FREMANTLE CITY OF OPPORTUNITIES

 

 

Where other people see negativity in Fremantle I see opportunities and reason for optimism. We have been through a long struggle, and it is not over by a long shot, but I can see light and sunshine at the end of the tunnel.

Fremantle is so unique and has such a good community and lifestyle, that I strongly believe that if we can work collaboratively and positively together we can create an even better city for the next generations and for all the visitors who’ll come here.

I would love to work toward attracting many more tourists to Fremantle and offer them more, and would like to see the City of Fremantle, with funding from the federal and state governments build a significant Aboriginal Cultural Center in the heart of the city.

A place where indigenous people can create art, have a big gallery space to sell the art from, an outdoor space for music, dance and story telling, and a cafe that sells bush tucker.

I would also love to see a migrant museum that tells the story of those people from far away countries who built our state and city and acknowledge them.

And as a very long-term plan I would like to see a significant Bathers Beach project, where the J Shed area in 20-30 years or so could become something like the Bondi Pavilion, with a sea pool, and where our inner city beach becomes as popular as the South, Port and Leighton beaches.

Developing Fremantle Festival into a showcase that would attract interstate and overseas visitors would also be great, and the present High Tide project along High Street will no doubt be a huge attraction with photos sent all over the planet via Snap Chat, Facebook, etc.

We have great opportunities in the Knutsford Street area to develop a good variety of diverse housing, from single, to medium and high density, tiny houses, townhouses, etc.

The Cantonment Hill Project is under way and the newly-opened playground is already very popular I noticed this morning.

The Fremantle Oval Project is a huge opportunity to do something outstanding there, but I warn against modelling it on the Claremont Oval development, which is pretty boring. Freo can do much better than that!

Fremantle has so much to offer for residents and visitors, and I have no doubt that with all the new development under way and planned Freo will also become attractive again for retailers and shoppers. All we need is a bit of patience, a positive attitude and not talking our city down.

Together we can move mountains. Let’s do it, Freo!

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

MINISTER LAUNCHES FREMANTLE HIGH TIDE SHOW

 

 

The Hon. David Templeman, WA Minister for Local Government, Heritage, Culture and the Arts this morning officially launched the High Tide show of the Fremantle Festival, with local member Simone McGurk and Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt.

Templeman said it was great to see the City of Fremantle once again leading the way, and  is a fantastic opportunity to showcase WA’s unique artistic talent.

It also allows for partnerships with international artists, such as Felice Varini who is creating the site-specific Arcs D’Ellipse along historic High Street.

Artistic director Tom Mueller of PS Art Space was there, as were many local artists, all in awe of the brilliant Varini artwork in progress.

Disappointingly yesterday’s big storm and rain has damaged the yellow foil on the Townhall, and that is due to the anti-graffiti surface of the newly-restored building, Felice Varini told me.

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

 

GREAT FREMANTLE CIRCLES OF ART

 

 

The amazing artwork Arcs D’Ellipse in Fremantle’s historic High Street by Felice Varini is progressing well. One now starts seeing the shapes of the circles all along the street when viewed from the steps to the Roundhouse.

It is quite mind-boggling to see the use of perspective so well, when at street level one only sees small areas of yellow on buildings, but when combined, and looking down the street they all connect. When the work is finished they will be large circles.

This High Tide public art project is part of the Fremantle Festival that will open in two weeks time on October 27.

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

INTRIGUING ART AT PS ART SPACE

 

 

There is an intriguing art exhibition by Gwenael Velge on at PS Art Space in Pakenham Street in Fremantle.

The show is excellent and well worth a visit, although I have no idea what it is about.

Simulation/Simulcra/Sisyphus is a show of aerial photographs of containers in port and installations; local landscapes-reality-meaning.

There are futuristic-looking boxes and CD disks, and a harness to strap on your back and you supposedly can fly away in it, maybe suggesting the aerial photos were not taken from a drone or helicopter.

It is a journey of discovery in the great huge art space, and it did not matter to me that I was lost to understand the meaning of it all, as it did not seem to matter.

Go and have a look for yourselves and let me know what you thought of it!

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

FREO HIGH STREET ART PROJECT

 

 

The Arcs D’Ellipse yellow and white circles by artist Felice Varini in Fremantle’s High Street are slowly taking shape.

The work is part of the HITIDE project of the Fremantle Festival and will no doubt attract many people to Fremantle.

Best vantage point will be from the step to the Roundhouse, so make sure to also visit WA’s oldest public building while you are there.

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

FREMANTLE THE ARTY CITY

 

 

Raindrops on a table at the Fremantle Lapa restaurants in High Street created a nice arty photo for me this morning.

The blue reminded me of my first solo exhibition at the Delaney Galleries in Perth in 1990. The show was all about the magnificent WA sky with man-made objects in it. I took the show to Germany in 1991 at the Keresztes Gallery in Nuremberg, where it sold out.

This year’s Fremantle Festival will revisit an idea I had in 2004 where I projected photos on the Fremantle Port building as part of FotoFreo.

Artist Jo Darbyshire’s projection show Ships in the Night is part of the Freo festival this year and she will project the names of the ships that visited, she recorded for a year.

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

 

FREO’S J SHED ARTISTS MAKE THEIR MARK

 

 

Sometime local artists are undervalued because we take them a bit for granted, and that seems to be the case with the Fremantle J Shed artists at Bathers Beach.

Artist Greg James has just finished another bronze sculpture for Busselton. It will be his fourth artwork for the main street there and two more are commissioned, so that will make the main stretch of Busselton into the Greg James art boulevard.

Artist Lesley Barrett, who works out of J Shed has won the Pemberton art prize and artist Yuko Takahashi, who also creates at J Shed won the Claremont art prize.

And in the meantime J Shed artist Jina Lee has been creating stone sculptures in Italy for a few weeks.

Greg James’ Diego sculpture is about the Spanish settlers to Busselton who introduced olives and wine grapes in the region. It took over 12 months to create the work that weights 310 kilo.

Artist David Johansen, he on the right, was the model for the face of Diego.

Greg James’ next artwork is already on the go and will be a sculpture of Edmund Rice for the Christian Brothers School in Fremantle.

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

YELLOW CIRCLES ART FOR FREMANTLE FESTIVAL

 

 

A small section of the Fremantle Townhall is coloured yellow. It is part of the Fremantle Festival artwork Arcs D’Ellipses by artist Felice Varini.

The huge circles will be ‘painted’ with paper all along High Street and will create a fantastic artwork when viewed from the Roundhouse steps.

It will be on show from late October till mid November, so make sure to come into town for it then.

 

Roel Loopers

Vote Roel for City Ward!

 

ART(HUR HEAD) EVENT IMPACT ON BUSINESS

 

 

Fremantle photographer Glen Cowans and the Roundhouse volunteer tourist guides are concerned about the closure of the Roundhouse steps for the testing of the nightly Hitide event that will be held during the Fremantle Festival.

Cowans operates the Glen Cowans Underwater Photography Gallery next to the Roundhouse and believes closing the steps will negatively impact on his business this week, while the Roundhouse is very popular during school holidays.

Cowans told me he was only advised by email late last evening of the closure of the steps and is now very worried that they could be closed from October 28 to November 12, as that would severely reduce visitors’ numbers to Arthur Head and his gallery.

I tried to contact Tom Mueller of PS Art Space, who is the curator of Hitide, but he was not in his office.

I drove by last night and saw the projections of big black circles on the historic buildings along High Street and have no doubt the event will become an attraction, but it would not be acceptable to close off the step for a fortnight in early November, as Glen Cowans and other galleries at Captain’s Lane have every right to insist on good access to their businesses.

It is also inconsiderate to leave the arms of the cherry pickers up so high during the day as they spoil the view to the historic Roundhouse.

What’s the story, City of Fremantle?

 

Roel Loopers

VOTE ROEL FOR CITY WARD!

 

 

 

GREAT MARRIAGE EQUALITY ART

 

 

A wall at Fremantle’s Stevens reserve has become the favourite canvas for political graffiti artworks, and the latest one by an anonymous artist about marriage equality is a ripper again.

Roel Loopers