SCULPTING A New Era

Georgia Beard discovers the inspiring and eclectic vision for this year’s Sculpture on the Edge, an exhibition where art and reality combine on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

When sculptural art occupies a space, it invites a sense of intimacy no other artform can achieve. Unlike a painting on the wall, it doesn’t have to reach out to the audience to connect. It already dwells on the same plane of existence as us.

As we stand before a sculpture, move around it, touch it, the abstract world bleeds into our own in a moment of true, tantalising contact.

This year, we’re connecting with this world again on the breathtaking escarpment of Flaxton Gardens. The wedding venue’s sweeping lawns and enchanting halls will become home for Sculpture on the Edge, an exhibition of diverse sculptural works by Australian and international artists.

Not-for-profit organisation Arts Connect Inc. has spearheaded Sculpture on the Edge since 2010, when it began as a collaboration with Maleny Garden Club.

The following year, founders Pam Maegdefrau, Janna Pameijer and Jim Cox launched the exhibition as a stand-alone event.

As a sculptor herself, Pam believes there were so few opportunities for emerging sculptural artists to showcase their work, especially in the Hinterland. To her, Sculpture on the Edge offered 3D artforms the same recognition as 2D.

Since then, the showcase has enriched our arts community alongside Arts Connect’s Open Studios Sunshine Coast and other social events and workshops.

President of Arts Connect Inc. Gretchen

Keelty knows artists aren’t the only group who benefit from events like this.

“It’s an opportunity for the public to engage with sculpture,” she said. “It’s such a fascinating medium and it requires a different set of skills. People can interact with the artists, gain a greater understanding of what goes into making the sculptures, and hopefully feel inspired.”

In previous years, the sculptural works sprawled out across Spicers Tamarind Retreat. Last year’s exhibition drew crowds of 7,000 people over 16 days with 40% of the artwork on display sold.

After relocating to Flaxton Gardens, artists and audiences alike can enjoy a more accommodating carpark and bus stop, accessible spaces and inspirational experiences.

While Sculpture on the Edge used to offer outdoor works only, the new venue makes room for smaller, more fragile works indoors.

Sheltered in Flaxton Gardens’ Winery and Barrel Room, small sculptures and statuettes fashioned from delicate materials will stand on plinths in the soft light. Emerging onto the escarpment, installations will interact with the garden while durable monoliths rise against the panoramic coastal views.

“We’ve got some interesting intrigues rolling in,” Gretchen said. “Marble, bronze, brass, stainless steel, aluminium, found objects.

“There’s such a wide variety, from the abstract and ephemeral down to beautiful figurative pieces.”

Last year, Chris McKenzie claimed First Place after he embedded railway spikes into blue gum timber, carved and polished into his Rusty Red Echidna; Highly Commended went to Stephen Newton’s humanistic charred forest timber, Alone; while the Emerging Artist Award went to Parthenopi for Emblem, her recreation of the Cook Town Orchid using spades, water squirters and other plastic elements.

Other works saw steel wire ballerinas dangling from a canopy of trees; a swarm of paper cranes wavering in the wind, and visitors meandering through a maze of fallen branches, all decorated with declarations of love.

One of the more divisive pieces in the exhibition – Cat Men by Jason Sank saw vaguely disturbing, humanoid cats made from domestic cat fur prowl the natural landscape and earn the People’s Choice.

Now we get to explore the depths of artistic originality once again, discovering all the beauty, personality and intriguing social commentary that draws us to sculpture.

This new era for Sculpture on the Edge brings changes to the competition categories and a generous donation from Flaxton Gardens, where First Place recipient will be awarded a prize of $10,000. The De Deyne Family Trust has provided a $5,000 prize for Highly Commended, and both the Emerging Artist and People’s Choice recipients will receive $1,000.

For the first time, Sculpture on the Edge will also offer a Local Artist prize of $2,000 for artists living on the Sunshine Coast and a Reclaimed & Recycled prize of $1,000 for works repurposing waste and other resources.

“We’re going to have workshops and artist talks, so it’ll become a much richer experience for the audience and the artists,” Gretchen said, mentioning lifelike sculpture and portrait sculpture as just a sample of the subjects to explore.

As Arts Connect Inc. remoulds, enriches and refines Sculpture on the Edge, we’re invited into a world where we might reshape ourselves.

Sculptural artists are calling us to interact with their intrusive artforms, to confront ourselves and the world around us, and finally, to respond.

See you on the edge!

Sculpture On The Edge

Flaxton Gardens, 313 Flaxton Drive. 20 November - 4 December, 9am-3pm. FREE and open to the public. Flaxton Gardens will offer a set menu and takeaway options for hinterland picnics. Visit the website for more details including the Opening and Closing events! www.sculptureontheedge.com.au