By Cameron Weston
HOBSONS Bay is a hotbed of artistic talent and this year, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, the creations of local artists will come out of the gallery and on to the streets.
The SubUrban Art Project, organised by Hobsons Bay City Council, will display signboards, sculptures and large format prints in public spaces around the municipality.
Williamstown’s Mike Nicholls works with timber, creating curvaceous sculptures, one of which was placed for the project in the Commonwealth Reserve at Williamstown.
Mr Nicholls has presented more than 30 solo shows, so the chance to submit work as part of a larger, city-wide project was a departure.
“Each artist has submitted a work in a particular format, based on a rough size limit,” he said.
“You had to find something that fitted that format.”
Mr Nicholls said the SubUrban Art Project was effectively a large group art exhibition, where artists submitted work or had it chosen, and the finished whole was assembled by someone else – in this case, project curator Tanya Blackwell.
Ms Blackwell said SubUrban, which took a year to plan, was about bringing art to the people, especially those who might not usually see it.
She said the 15 sites were carefully chosen for their relationship with the artwork, and to create a strong impression on the viewer.
“The people who go to galleries are usually interested in art, but if you put it in an urban environment people start appreciating it more.
“All the artwork is really tasteful. I thought about that in the planning stages to make sure it would be well received by a mass audience.”
Mr Nicholls said the proximity and perspective of the viewer was all important with a three-dimensional art form like sculpture, so choosing the right piece for his site presented its own challenges.
He finally chose a simple silhouette.
“I kept the form very simple because I wasn’t sure where it would be going, or how people would be viewing it. Would they be driving past or walking?”
Jo Darvall’s contribution to the project is a billboard piece in Newport Park, on the corner of Douglas Parade and North Rd, with the power station looming in the background.
The piece is an image of the power station under a swirling, dramatic red sky, inspired by the work of English Romantic painter JMW Turner.
Ms Darvall, who teaches art at Williamstown Primary School, said Hobsons Bay was a good fit for a project like SubUrban.
“This area is full of not only practising visual artists, but performers and writers.
“People are always putting their work up in bars and cafes around the place.
“My work has been very much inspired by the area we live in.”
