INTERNATIONAL STONE SCULPTURE SYMPOSIUM

 

 

It is a shame Fremantle will miss out on hosting the first Western Australian International Stone Sculpture Symposium that is being organised by J Shed artist Jina Lee, who just returned from a stone sculpture symposium in Italy.

The WAISSS will be held somewhere in the City of Melville, so I’ll keep you posted when I get more information.

These symposiums are very popular and attract many visitors so this is a loss for Fremantle.

Roel Loopers

SCULPTURES AT BATHERS BEACH IS BACK!

 

 

I am delighted that the great SCULPTURE AT BATHERS exhibition will be back on next year with the organisers calling for entries.

The show at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach attracted thousands of people in the past and is a great showcase of Western Australian 3D art.

Roel Loopers

STUNNING PEACEFUL PHOTOGRAPHY MOMENTS AT J SHED

 

 

The eclectic and cluttered upstairs gallery at sculptor Greg James’ studio in J Shed at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach is always worth a visit, but even more so now with the Peaceful Moments exhibitions.

There are only five large photos by Amerigo Carello and they alone should be seen by anyone interested in outstanding landscape photography. The three landscapes where the rising sun creates dappled light in the undulated scenery are exquisitely painterly. They are sublime and should be bought for a corporate collection or boardroom! There are also two images of Fremantle. One of the Maritime Museum just before sunrise and a night shot of historic High Street.

There are also very creative collages by Ivan Zuvela, sweet beach landscape paintings by David Moran and of course a variety of smaller sculptures from the Greg James stable by him Lesley Barrett and others.

J Shed is an enigma. It frustrates Fremantle Council because in its desperation of activating the area it appears to overlook the significance of it as a venue where great art has been created for more than twenty years.

On Saturday Arthur’s Head looked like an ant hill with hundreds and hundreds of people, including passengers from the Sea Princess, climbing the stairs to the Roundhouse. The West End of Freo was buzzing.

The Bathers Beach Art Precinct is on the radar of our Councillors and City officers and it is likely it will be an agenda item for the Ordinary Council meeting in April. Will they come up with new creative solutions, such as a sculpture park on the A Class Reserve at J Shed, or change tune totally and abandon the arts precinct idea? It is anyone’s guess at present.

Go and have a look at the J Shed show. You won’t regret it!

Roel Loopers

 

THE CHANGES IN FIGURATIVE SCULPTURE LECTURE

 

There is an interesting lecture at the Greg James studio at J Shed this evening from 7-9pm.

Jason Arkles will be giving a lecture: “The origins of Renaissance sculpture – how the figure evolved from the Gothic tradition in Renaissance Italy”.

$20.00 entry fee, refreshments provided.

Jason Arkles is an art historian and sculptor and details the actual and technical stylistic changes that occurred in figurative sculpture six hundred years ago that transformed the art from little more than architectural decoration to the iconic beauty of the Florentine Renaissance.

Arkles is an American sculptor working in the traditional methods and materials one would normally associate with a sculptor in Florence. His large-scale figurative work in bronze, marble, terracotta and wood can be found in public and private spaces, museums, cemeteries, and churches in Europe and America, including on the façade of Saint Mark’s English Church, here in Florence. Trained locally in the studio of Charles H. Cecil (the human figure in clay), in Studio Sem in Pietrasanta (marble), and in a Pontifical Academy in Rome (sacred art). 

GREAT SALT ART AT SCULPTURE@BATHERS

I love Simon Gilby’s sculpture made out of salt at SCULPTURE@BATHERS. It is meant to react to the elements, and water, wind and salt corrosion will slowly make it disappear and only its skeleton will remain.

The weather came in sooner than Simon might have hoped for so the decay was quite visible this morning, but it makes it fascinating and intriguing to look at. Small mounts of salt underneath it take it back to how it all began.

It’s nice to see an artist not just wanting a commercial return for his work but simply exploring new creative avenues for his art. Great work, Simon!

The S@B show is on at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach till March 29 but Gilby’s work might not last the distance, so go and see it soon. It is very close to the South Mole.

Roel Loopers