A FUNDRAISER will be held on Thursday 23 July for the Presence of Giants public sculpture project.
First published in the 10 July 2015 edition of the Warragul & Baw Baw Citizen.
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The sculpture, to be located in Warragul’s Civic Park, will take the form of a recessed footprint of a mountain ash tree, inspired by the giants that once towered over the region.
James Geurt, the artist behind the project, said it was the story of the tree cut down in Thorpdale to measure its height – 114.3 metres.
Geurt yesterday used a 3D scanner to image a large Mountain Ash tree in Powell, which will inform the shape of the sculpture.
When finished the 50cm deep excavation will be lit with solar powered LED lights.
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“It will be like a fossil excavation,” Geurt told the Warragul & Baw Baw Citizen.
“It will feel like it has just disappeared.
“It’s about the body of the tree, not the height.”
In many ways the project is just like an archaeological dig – it is intended to show the history of the region’s forests and the people who cut them down.
The Sandy Point-based artist said that before settling on using the 3D scanner he had unsuccessfully tried to create a latex mould.
The state government’s Creative Victoria Sculpture Fund has already put $84,000 toward the project, but there is a shortfall of between $10,000 and $20,000.
The fundraiser will contribute to covering that gap. A limited set of artworks associated with the project by Geurts will be available for purchase on the night.
Works by Gary Miles valued at $10,000 and Kerrie Warren valued at $5,000, both local artists, have also been contributed.
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The fundraising event will start at 18:00 in the Parkview Room of the West Gippsland Arts Centre.
We could actually plant about 85,000 real plants for the cost of this sculpture or preserve some real trees …