...seen on the beach on Bruny Island

How is this for a lovely piece of ephemeral public art?

My Bruny Island [Tasmania] friends, Sandra and Richard, came across these two on their morning walk. The shadows add a wonderful third element to the composition. 

Geelong Foreshore

The City of Geelong on Corio Bay just west of Melbourne has the most wonderful  array of interesting sculptural bollards and installations. You can stroll for kilomoters along the foreshore, enjoying the characters and historical maritime references.

...not a good advertisement for 'placemaking' as such, because there were not a lot of people on the forshore. The day before I took these pics, Geelong had won the Footy grand final, so the whole town was in pubs and cafes celebrating, or else nursing hangovers!!

Noosa 'Floating Land' exhibition, 2009

This was a fabulous ephemeral exhibition - a really good model for something we could do in Maleny and beyond to complement a festival or event. Finding an 'art work' in a common place setting rather than a gallery makes it more accessible and spontaneous for the public - taking the art to the people rather than the people to the art. We have a writer's festival, a wood expo, the Great walks festival, the list goes on ...lots of opportunities to be creative within a public genre.

Understory - art and people create a place

The Understory project is really worth a look from the perspective of artists collaborating with community to create truly inspiring art and a sense of place in the natural environment. The few photos included here were taken when Fiona and I visited Understory August 2009.

The Understory website says: "Understory is a nationally unique art in nature experience that everyone can enjoy. Artworks are located along a 1.2km walk trail through pristine native forest. Sculptures, stories, poetry and music explore our relationship with nature and the 'spirit of place'."

"Understory was originally called the Southern Forest Sculpture Walk. It is managed by Southern Forest Arts - a 'not for profit' community cultural organisation.

Over 50 nationally and internationally renowned creative professionals have participated in the project since first established in November 2006. New artworks are added regularly to ensure there is always something fresh for visitors to experience.

Most people spend one hour to one and a half hours walking the trail and listening to a range of five audio tours (including interviews with participating artists, stories poetry and music). There are also audio tours especially for children and youth."

Building community - including fence art

Whilst we were away for work we came across an article on building community, neighbourhoods and sharehoods in the Sunday Age (21/2/10) pages 4-5 of the domain section. In addition to that content what also caught my eye was the simple placemaking art on the fence - and then I realised it was Gilbert Rochecouste and Amanis Lacheta of Village Well of placemaking fame.

Anyway I thought I'd just post a photo of the piece on Gilbert and Amandis; and also a photo of them and the simple fence art.

It reminded me that placemaking is linked to community building; and that placemaking art can be a simple affair and ephemeral.

How is this for placemaking art?

Came across this project (Kaikai) and thought just what amazing things can be achieved when artists collaborate.

Also came across Community Arts Network South Australia and in regard to their placemaking project they said that "placemaking projects work on the belief that meaningful interactions can turn spaces we find ourselves in, into places we want to engage with."