A celebration of narratives and stories spoken through artworks produced by local, national and international artists, the annual SWELL Sculpture Festival will be set amongst the natural landscape of Currumbin Beach this September.
Now in its 18th year, there is something for everyone at the SWELL Sculpture Festival. Delivering more than 50+ large scale contemporary works of art by nationally and internationally renowned artists, visitors can delve deeper into the unique artistic elements programmed each year by attending artist talks, twilight walks and participate in online sculptural workshops. SWELL will also connect with younger artists through the SWELL Kids Education program.
Extending the footprint of the event by connecting the points of the sculptural compass at northern, southern and western areas of the Gold Coast, this year the event will showcase two pop-up exhibitions from 1 – 20 September 2020:
northerlySWELL with renowned Indigenous living legend Luther Cora’s new sculpture depicting the mullet season and a time of abundance at the Helensvale Cultural Precinct & Library.
Luther Cora is an inspiring advocate for Indigenous culture, his Totem is the Black Cockatoo. A proud member of the Cora and Trare Families which come from the Bungaree Family, who are traditional people from Gold Coast area, also known as the Yugambeh Language group which is made up of several tribes, clans and family groups.
westerlySWELL will see five works created by artists from Queensland and South Australia popping up in Mudgeeraba Village Green including:
Clayton Blake is a Gold Coast installation artist widely recognized for his extraordinary works that employ various elements of architecture and sculpture. His practice involves adapting everyday objects to specific artistic and architectural applications.
Clayton uses ordinary accessible items to create large scale, contemporary installations that challenge and excite. He constructs expansive works that respond to or reflect their environments, whilst challenging and distorting the viewer’s preconceptions of structures and space.
Ivan Lovatt is a Gold Coast sculptor most renowned for his wire representations of wild life which have won him numerous art prizes including People’s Choice Awards (2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018) and the Peer Award (2015) at the Gold Coast Swell Sculpture Exhibition for his super size owl – Merlin; bee – Macro; emu – Curious Bird, Wolf; lion – Magnificent; and Gullah – You’re Terrible Muriel!
Ivan’s work has been commissioned for public and private exhibition across Australia and in the UK, Denmark, Austria, the US, and Brazil. More recently Ivan was commissioned to create a series of sculptures for the new Lion Pride Lands exhibition at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo.
Suzi Lucas is a Gold Coast sculptor who’s work draws on her love and respect for human narrative, nature and the environment. Her works portray and question the passing of time and the concept of space and distance. Working with different materials, including found and repurposed objects, Suzi’s work alludes to life and questions the notion of sentimentality.
Suzi has created artworks for sculpture festivals, private gardens, children’s parks and public spaces. She has collaborated with architects, engineers, school students and community on various creative projects.
Stephen Newton is a sculptor and educator based in Brisbane. Stephen has completed large scale public realm commissions in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art, Graduate Diploma in Teaching, and Master of Arts in Visual Art.
Last year he completed his PhD with the School of Arts at the Australian National University, Canberra. Stephen teaches at TAFE Queensland Brisbane while developing sculptural projects of place in collaboration with regional, government and First Nation stakeholders.
Clayton Blake is a Gold Coast installation artist widely recognized for his extraordinary works that employ various elements of architecture and sculpture. His practice involves adapting everyday objects to specific artistic and architectural applications.
Clayton uses ordinary accessible items to create large scale, contemporary installations that challenge and excite. He constructs expansive works that respond to or reflect their environments, whilst challenging and distorting the viewer’s preconceptions of structures and space.
Karl Meyer is an Adelaide based artist and designer who is recognised for creating original works that are whimsical, thought provoking and inviting of enquiry. With a track-record in creating and developing artworks and sculptures over the past decade. A fascination with the “evolution of ideas, and how they influence people and the physical environment led Meyer to study Industrial Design in the early 1990’s.
“For decades now, the hinterland has inspired artists and sculptors locally and around the world so it’s exciting, but also very appropriate, to have an exhibition of SWELL’s calibre in Mudgeeraba village,” said Councillor Glenn Tozer.
The 2020 SWELL Sculpture Festival will be delivered in a COVID-19 Safe manner. The safety of the community is of utmost importance and will operate adhering the SWELL COVID-19 Safe Plan and will adjust accordingly as guidelines and recommendations are updated from health authorities.
Visitors to SWELL are asked to adhere to COVID Safe Public Health Measures, such as physical distancing of 1.5m from non-household members, sustain good hand hygiene with sanitising stations throughout the exhibition and stay home is unwell. Look and flow through the exhibition, keep left and do not block walkways, to list a few.
The SWELL Sculpture Festival runs 11 – 20 September 2020. For more information and to view the full program, visit: www.swellsculpture.com.au for details.
Image: Karl Meyer, Life Support, 2019 – courtesy of Fotomedia