Listening to the music

Miraggio (aka Seated Figure)

By Pino Conte : Bronze statue, 1964

Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Kings Domain

Miraggio, a bronze statue of a slender young woman listening to music, came into the city’s public art collection 1964. An anonymous ‘Lover of Italy’ donated it to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl Trust and Melbourne City Council. Following the re-landscaping of the site, Miraggio was reinstalled in October 2001. To be faithful to the donor’s wishes and the apparent intent behind the work, the figure is installed as if she were part of the audience.

Welcome to Brunswick Street

One of the famous statues of Peter Corlett, Called " Mr Poetry "

 1994, Cast Iron, Life size, Concrete Plinth 2.5 metre high.

See more sculptured of Peter Corlett from my old posted : Fortuna 1992

Link : Sculptor Peter Corlett uses methods that have barely changed since Leonardo da Vinci's time.

The Travellers

The Travellers

Artist Nadim Karam; manufacturer Arup Engineering

Stainless-steel tubing and glass panel installation, 2005 

Sandridge Bridge, Yarra River 

The Travellers celebrates Indigenous presence and the meeting of cultures through migration. It comprises 10 large-scale sculptures, each approximately 7.5 metres tall and collectively incorporating 3.7 kilometres of stainless steel. Nine of the 10 figures are motorised and at regular intervals move along the length of Sandridge Bridge, sited near a former Aboriginal meeting ground and near the landing point where many early migrants stepped ashore. Built in 1888, the bridge is the third to occupy this site, the original constructed in 1853.

Designed by Beirut-based artist Nadim Karam, The Travellers tells a history of migration to Australia. Each of the 10 figures comprising the work represents a phase of arrival, as historian James Jupp has defined these. The figures, graphic and abstracted in form, are Gayip (Aboriginal period); First Settler (convict period); Melbourne Beauty (gold rushes); Walker and His Tucker Bag (assisted migration); Shelter (displaced persons); Urban Wheel (European migration); Running Couple (refugees); Butterfly Girl (Asian and Middle Eastern migration); Technoman (students and professionals); and Walking Sun (multiculturalism). Below the figures, a series of etched glass panels stretch across the bridge, a component in this history of migration to Australia.

This work was commissioned by the City of Melbourne and Victorian government, and launched in 2005.

See more of The Travellers sculptures from my old posted : Look Across Sandridge Bridge to Crown Casino

The Guardians

The Guardians, by Simon Rigg were unveiled in November at Melbourne's Southgate precinct near the Crown Casino, the commissioning body.

These two monumental abstract sculptures carved from Italian statuary marble and clad with ceramic tiles with 6.7m high. The square based mounting of the large statue depicts the four elements. The smaller Guardian reveals a woman's head looking through the hole of the larger sculpture, and hints at the source of all the images, beyond our plane of vision.

Tuesday My World

Dawn in the city

Weathervanes

Daniel Jenkins

Hand-beaten copper sculpture with gold-leaf detail, 1993

Cnr Bourke & Swanston Street

Daniel Jenkins was born in Kansas, USA, in 1947, and arrived in Australia in 1981. He studied extensively in Europe, and is a jeweller and silversmith by trade. The technique Jenkins employed on Weathervanes is repoussé, where the metal is beaten from its underside to give shape and relief to the design. Jenkins acquired the technique while visiting Venice on a Palladio Foundation scholarship.

Each of the four weathervanes takes the shape of an animal: a horse, pig, fish and bird. They are positioned high on tram poles to give aerial performances with each gust of wind. The vanes have been conceived to represent specific aspects of Melbourne: the bird symbolises the city’s parks and gardens; the horse symbolises its culture and sport; the fish refers to its waterways; and the pig represents the city’s hope and future – the latter a tongue-in-cheek reference to ‘pigs can fly’. Jenkins said of the sculpture, ‘I wanted each of these weathervanes to be cartoon-like and even frivolous. We take our cities for granted and with the daily pedestrian bustle it is always business as usual. It takes something very unusual to attract someone’s eye. I want people to look up and smile!’

The City of Melbourne commissioned Jenkins to make this work, which took him four months to complete. Lord Mayor Councillor Des Clark unveiled Weathervanes in March 1993.

Rhythms of the Metropolis

This large bronze sculpture located at the front of 200 Queen Street. For me, it look like snake but the name of this sculpture is " Rhythms of the Metropolis 1996 " ( The rhythmic energy of the city was celebrated by futurism ) by Andrew Rogers  

The Color of Ophelia

This is Southgate features the iconic sculpture by celebrated artist Deborah Halpern. A sculpture consisting of mosaic tiles,  Deborah usually begins her mosaic work with sketches, although not all pieces are planned. Next, the figure is created from steel mesh and sprayed with expanding foam. Deborah then carves the shape of her piece and covers it with a fibro-glass skin. Finally, ceramic tiles are adhered to the skin to create the mosaic sculpture. All Deborah's pieces are decorated with a "big face." This is her signature and it gives her artworks life and emotion.

Deborah also has a sculpture positioned in Birrarung Marr, called ‘Angel’ see my old posted : Angle

The meeting point : Architectural Fragment

By Petrus Spronk
Bluestone sculpture called " Architectural Fragment " 1992
Corner of Swanston and La Trobe Streets

Born in Holland, Petrus Spronk immigrated to Australia in 1957 and trained as a ceramicist and sculptor in South Australia. He was commissioned to undertake Architectural Fragment for the Swanston Street Walk Public Art Project in 1992, and it was unveiled the following year.

Sited outside the State Library of Victoria, the pyramidal, Port Fairy bluestone sculpture represents a fragment of the library emerging from the pavement as an archaeological artefact might. It has been conceived to engage with its environment, visually connecting to its surroundings through both form and material.

Spronk's intention was to create a dialogue of sorts between art, history and place. His inspiration was Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias', which speaks of the fragile and transient nature of all that is human. Quoting from the poem, the pedestal reads: 'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my work you Mighty, and despair.' Architectural Fragment is a Pythagorean triangle, which expresses a strong association with the geometry of ancient Greece. Like a fallen classical monument, it reflects the past and alludes to the transience of the present.

The Pathfinder ( Aka The Hammer Thrower )

By John Edward Robinson

Bronze sculpture, 1974: Queen Victoria Gardens

Artist John Robinson has a long history with Australia. Born in London in 1935, he came to Australia briefly during the war as a child evacuated to escape the German bombing of London. He returned in 1952, living on the land in South Australia, which is where he rediscovered his early talent for sculpture. Returning to England in 1969, he devoted himself to sculpture full time. Robinson’s reputation as a figurative sculptor grew quickly.

In 1973, the City of London commissioned his Hammer Thrower. In 1974, he began to focus on more symbolic forms. Robinson’s major commissions include four sculptures for the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, Gymnast for the New Olympic Museum, Lausanne, and The Pathfinder and Water Children, now with the City of Melbourne.

Mining giant Conzinc Riotinto (now known as Rio Tinto) commissioned Robinson’s The Pathfinder, which they planned to install in their proposed new building. When the building failed to go ahead, the ‘dynamic’ sculpture of the hammer thrower in action was placed on long-term loan with the City of Melbourne, which sited the bronze in the Queen Victoria Gardens.

The hammer held by the figure has been stolen several times and duly returned or replaced by another. Lord Mayor Councillor Whalley unveiled The Pathfinder in April 1974.

Giant Metal Fish Sculptures

I am not sure how many people used to see all this metal fish sculptures. Located on the alley way of Waterfront Melbourne - CBD Corporate Rental Apartments ( opposite side of Melbourne Maritime Museum. )

They look pretty cool but I can't find an information. But I hope you enjoy the photos : )

This one eat the footy ball ( see the tummy )

Stanford Fountain

By William Stanford

Bluestone fountain, 1870

Gordon Reserve, corner of Spring and Macarthur Streets

William Stanford's bluestone fountain features a boy on the upper tier, encircled by birds and fish on the lower tier. But this scene of innocence was created in a far less naive setting.

Stanford was apprenticed to a London stonemason before coming to Australia to try his luck on the Bendigo goldfields. When he failed to make his fortune, he turned to horse stealing, and in 1854 was imprisoned for 10 years. He was released after six on ticket-of-leave, but was soon found guilty on two charges of highway robbery and another of horse stealing. The sentences amounted to a total of 22 years, two of which were served as hard labour in irons after Stanford broke out of a supposedly 'escape-proof' gaol in 1861. In Melbourne's Pentridge Prison, Stanford's talent for drawing and carving was recognised - he carved bones left over from stews - and the prison governor allowed him to turn his hand to carving stone. Local sculptor Charles Summers tutored Stanford, who soon set to carving a fountain from bluestone from the prison quarry, which was the only material available to him. He modelled the fountain's avian adornments on a stuffed eagle-hawk and modelled the boy on the governor's son.

The fountain was installed in Carpentaria Place (now known as Gordon Reserve) in 1871, following Stanford's release after he - and his friends petitioned for this on the grounds of his ill health. The Illustrated Australian News claimed the fountain was 'not only a work of great beauty but...executed under circumstances of extreme difficulty [which for] most men would have been insurmountable'. Stanford received no payment for the fountain but in time became a respected citizen; he established a business in Windsor, which had a reputation for creating fine headstones.

Stanford died in 1880 from 'stonemasons' disease', having inhaled a surfeit of fine dust while creating his beautiful fountain.

Aurora

Aurora named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora's inverted cargo net makes a symbolic connection to Docklands' history as Victoria's most important port. 

Aurora' is a 14 metre high stainless steel piece commissioned by the State Government. A crucial element in Geoff Bartlett's design was that 'Aurora' should present strikingly different characters by day and by night, is lit from within to create a glowing orb floating above the street. The piece encourages pedestrians to walk through it's legs and look upwards, to " focus their attention away from the everyday and to reflect upon the work and the sky beyond "

Aurora, Victoria Point, Melbourne Docklands, corner of Harbour Esplanade and Bourke Street

Hand of God

This bronze sculpture is located in the lawns of The Sidney Myer Music Bowl  and it is called "Hand of God" by Carl Milles.

This sculpture "Hand of God" is from 1954 and is one of Milles' most well-known sculptures. It can be found in different parts of the world, in Australia, in USA, in Japan and Indonesia. The original, however, is in Sweden.

Skywatch Friday

Chair on Swanton

Resting Place 

By Bronwyn Snow 

Steel and jarrah seat, 1994 

Cnr Swanston & Little Lonsdale Street

Bronwyn Snow’s Resting Place is a sculpture that combines aesthetics and function. Commissioned through the City of Melbourne’s Percent for Art Program, this double-sided seat of steel and jarrah offers the urban flâneur a place to rest, take stock and take in the urban environment. The decorative elements of the seat include two serpents – traditionally a symbol of healing, rebirth and female power – towering sunflowers, which watch over the seated, and ivy. Snow claims of the work that it is ‘a stopping point, a resting place for the weary spiritual traveller’.

outdoor wednesday and wednesday seapia scenes

Better view

Public Metal Art on Elizabeth street. For adults, we just have a look but for kids, they can have fun.. they jump up and down on that stone. But I got no ideas about this public art .

Huge Toy at Dockland

Shot from the metal seat at Waterview Walk

Emily Floyd 

Painted aluminium sculpture, 2004 

Waterview Walk, Docklands

Melbourne artist Emily Floyd’s Signature Work is a playful addition to the public art collection at Docklands. Resembling an abstracted toy rabbit, it is intended to amuse and confound passers-by. Standing nearly four metres high and coated in black Polyurethane paint, the aluminium-plate sculpture is also reminiscent of futuristic creations such as Darth Vader, or the menacing rabbit figure in the film Donny Darko. Planted in the urban landscape of Docklands, the presence of this giant rabbit is both cute and unsettling as it looms over the viewer.

Blowhole

More public sculptures at Docklands Park. This one called " Blowhole " Just the wind can blow this hole because it is 15 m. high wind powered. Sculptured by Sydney-based artist, Duncan Stemler, creating a spectacular animated beacon within Docklands' playground and park. The piece heralds the area's maritime history and it's renaissance as a vibrant urban destination. When the wind is strong enough ( today ), the armature and cups form a complex galaxy of orbiting balls, mimicking the anemometer on top of a yacht's mast.

Skywatch Friday

By your requested : who want to see this wind sculpture in motion

Larry and the two men

This cast bronze statue situated on Melbourne's City Square names " Larry La Trobe " created by Pamela Irving to represent the relationship with Melbourne, Australia and the state of Victoria. Charles La Trobe was the first Lieutenant Governor of the state of Victoria. 

And actually, this is the second statue was reinstalled officially unveiled on 16 September 1996 by Melbourne Lord Mayor, Councillor Ivan Deveson. 

Pamela Irving created this statue based on her own dog, Lucy, the statue is not representative of any particular breed but has been crafted to generate a sense of Australian larrikinism in the viewer. For me, Larry look like "  jack russell terrier "

Reed Vessel

In the rain again ! you can see the drop of the rain in my photo. And this is one of 29 public sculptures in Dockland called " Reed Vessel " by New Zealand artist, Virginia King is a woven and elevated vessel form supported on a cradle 4.5 metres above a pool of water integrated with the wetlands of the 3-hectare Docklands Park, and embracing the themes of migration, survival and the sea. The cradle is sandblasted with poets and writers and also reference marine archeology and once abundant foods that aboriginal people harvested from this tidal wetland.

The sculpture is fabricated from stainless steel work and appears to emerge from the water, a symbol of the rekindled spirit at the docks.

Reed Vessel located in Docklands Park Cnr Bourke Street & Harbour Esplanade since 2002

Picasso's influence

Not a nice sunny day but shall we see " angel " before rain. This is one of Melbourne's iconic landmarks. Called " Angel " The 10 metre high, two-head sculpture was recently relocated from the National Gallery to the north bank of the Yarra River at Birrarung Marr. It can be seen from as far away as Princes Bridge.

Deborah Halpern’s public sculpture, made from colorful ceramic mosaic tiles, pushed the boundaries of ceramic art with Angel, creating a semi-abstract work that resembles a three-legged llama in form and on which more than 4000 individually cut and hand-painted tiles are fixed to its concrete and steel armature. The colourful images adorning this work reveal Picasso's influence on Halpern's art.

From 1988 until 2005, Deborah Halpern's ceramic sculpture was sited in the southern moat of the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road. With its joyful spirit and arresting form. 

Then Angel has been sited on the banks of the Yarra in Birrarung Marr since 2005, where the viewers can see it from all sides for the first time. It remains part of the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, which commissioned the work in collaboration with the Australian Bicentennial Authority.