Top of the Torrens Gallery
We didn’t chase public art; it just happened. The Top of the Torrens Gallery committee in Birdwood, SA, created the first piece as a display to attract visitors. They originally applied for an Adelaide Hills Council grant to fund an artwork for the gallery’s exterior.
While they first considered a wall-mounted piece, the building’s heritage listing quickly ended that idea. Instead, the committee decided to place a sculpture in the front garden. The original design featured a kangaroo, but that idea was scrapped due to entrapment issues. Finally, the committee accepted the piece that stands there today: Angas, our full-sized perentie.
Angas is a nod to the original landholder of Birdwood and one of South Australia’s pioneers, George Fife Angas. Angas is made entirely of straightened and welded horseshoes. He is very popular with young children who love to sit on his back
Cobb’s Hill Estate Winery
Cobb’s Hill Estate Winery purchased one of our sculptures, ‘Just hangin round’ for permanent display in their grounds. The Cobb’s Hill Estate property was part of a staging post for the legendary stagecoach company Cobb & Co. which traversed the Adelaide Hills from 1867. The sculpture was a wagon rim that suspended a ball made of horseshoes and mounted on a plough disc. The sculpture fit in with the history of the site quite well.
Godfrey’s Park Tea Tree Gully
The Tea Tree Gully Council commissioned this, my most recent piece of public art. My horseshoe ball at the Brighton Jetty Sculptures evidently impressed them, as they wanted a similar piece to honour the area’s local blacksmiths and farriers.
The Council required that I use all new horseshoes and incorporate internal lighting into the sculpture. Creating this artwork was a significant honour; I originally learned blacksmithing techniques from one of the old smiths whose family donated his tools and gear to the museum after he passed away.
It seems horseshoes are popular , but using them in sculptures can be very labour intensive. There are many pieces of our art in private collections around the country.