It was a beautiful Autumn morning as thirteen Walkabouters set out along the Geelong Waterfront for a walk to Rippleside Park and back again!
We met in the car park on Hearne Parade overlooking the Eastern Beach of Corio Bay. After waiting for a few strays gathering their morning caffeine fix from a local establishment, we headed uphill and entered the Geelong Botanic Gardens.
The Gardens were a delight! Surprisingly none of us had visited them before! Wandering around the beds with their beautiful flowers and well manicured lawns all morning would have been an easy choice however another adventure awaited us.
Connecting People, Place And Environment
Our sojourn into the gardens was brief. Continuing along our planned track, we headed back to the foreshore passing an interesting rock sculpture. Best viewed from the air, this Artist's sculpture add an intriguing element to the gently sloping hillside.
A helicopter ride will reveal a flowing ribbon! The Artist has another sculpture near the You-Yangs in the shape of an Eagle.
Corio Bay floats in the southwest corner of Port Phillip Bay. It was investigated by European explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell in 1824. These explorers met the local indigenous people, the Wautharong people who called the surrounding lands Corayo and the bay Jillong. The names got swapped and Anglicised. So we now now these places as Corio Bay and Geelong!
Outsider's Art Breaks The Surface
All up, there are 103 sculptures! Each one depicts a character or persons associated with the history of the area. They are the creation of Melbourne born artist Jan Mitchell and are really quite wonderful.
The sculptures are made from reclaimed recycled wooden pier pylons. Each is individually carved and painted. Some have rabbits to look out for!
There are many attractions along the Waterfront including sailing ships, the Cunningham Pier and a wonderful old carousel! A market was in full swing! A few walkers were nearly lost to the attraction of shopping bargains and hot jam doughnuts!
Sculpture Moves From Waterfront
The Western Cliffs! The photo below is of the Western Cliffs! These cliffs were formed quite recently. Within the last 10, 000 years recent. There are a couple of distinct layers; the lower layer is the Fyansford Formation at the bottom and the Moorabool Viaduct Sands at the top.
You can tell the difference as the Fyansford Formation consists of yellow brown to pale orange sandy to silty marls imbedded in calcareuos silty clay. Whereas the 5 meter thick layer of Moorabool Viaduct sands are brown to pale orange with some red ferruginous staining and consist of sandy sediments known as calcarerous and silty sands, quartzite, sandstone conglomerate and sandy clays. Or so the sign said!
Pheonix canariensis, those Palm trees in the photo above, are not native to Geelong but the Council seem to have planted a lot of them the along the Waterfront. They could have planted Norfolk Island palms! Or not!!
The Project Space
The end is nearly in sight, but its too soon to bring an end to our wonderful walk along the Geelong Waterfront!
So we had coffee at the Life Saver's Pavillion whilst looking up toward the water feature with the Spanish inspired waterbirds! A wonderful day and walk through the geological and architectural history of the Geelong Waterfront!A striking large-scale text-based public sculpture has found itself a home on Geelong’s Waterfront, celebrating members of the Greater Geelong Community who have a lived experience with disability.
Commissioned by the City of Greater Geelong, the sculpture, titled I AM will be temporarily located on the forecourt of the Carousel, Eastern Beach until February 2022 and is a deep dive into disability arts from our region, and a space to showcase its creative and cultural history.
Art And Sculpture
The public art sculpture is the spectacular result from artist Mark Cuthbertson who worked with artist-collaborators Robert Croft, Hannah Wilkinson, Christian Den Besten and George Macaronis, based on over 85 contributions from the local community living with a disability through a series of artist-led workshops.
Project to the Geelong community. I would like to thank my fellow artistic collaborators and the broader community members for their involvement and contributions to the work, what an amazing outcome, ” Cuthbertson says of working with collaborators.
Drawing reference from powerful political and pop culture statements such as the 1968 Memphis black sanitation workers slogan “I AM a man”, and Helen Reddy’s 1971 anthem “I AM woman”, the work celebrates the empowerment of diversity in our society.
New Sculptures In Geelong
Funded by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund (CSF) and delivered in partnership with VALiD (Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disabilities) and Geelong-based ArtGusto, the sculpture stands over two metres and is designed to be relocatable throughout the municipality.
The sculpture is interactive by design, inviting you to be a part of the work. You can position yourself within and take photos (using the hashtag #IAMGeelong) that will form a collective voice celebrating the diversity of our local community.
Deputy Mayor Trent Sullivan, Chair of the Council’s Creative Communities and Culture portfolio, congratulated all participants on their part in the sculpture’s development.
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“This is an engaging and important piece of public art that reinforces our belief that everyone in the Greater Geelong community is welcome and brings their own unique value, ” Cr Sullivan said.
“Mark, Robert, Hannah, Christian and George have done an outstanding job creating the finished artwork from the excellent contributions of so many community members.”
Celebrating the contribution of all people of all abilities to the community, a huge congratulations to the many people in Geelong’ all-abilities community who have worked for so long to make this artwork a reality.
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