Oh Alfred!

ohalfred — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 09:50:59 +0000

Well we were over the moon to hear that we had won the Remix the City category for this year SMAC awards.

Art & About received the award for the great public extravaganzas created by The Sydney Statues Project and Oh Alfred!

Below is a pic of Gill (COS) Michelle ( SSP) and Kali (OA). Its a pity we couldn’t have all the artists up on stage along with all the great folks who contributed to the success of these projects.

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE OH ALFRED SO SUCH A SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY PROJECT.

SMAC AWARD NOMINATION!

ohalfred — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 04:10:32 +0000

VOTE for your favourite sydney creatives!

Art and About’s Laneway Art Project, Sydney Statues and Oh Alfred! has been nominated for the Remix the City Award! Which is all about awarding an event, person or team who’ve creatively used, created or recreated a physical space, location or landmark in this city, making it a creative destination.

Art and About really kicked some goals this year… So if you enjoyed the punch of great Sydney public art you experienced during Sept/Oct … let the Smac team know about it by voting! Simple click on the top image to have your say.

Oh Alfred! is very proud to have been a part of this nomination… sharing the love with the brilliant Sydney Statues Project and The Laneway Art Project .

All the nominees in all the different areas are also pretty hot to trot and you can check them out by clicking on the image below:)

We look forward to enjoying a fabulous evening of awarding the creative juice that keeps pumping the magic through our city of Sydney!

For More Info on all the nominees !

How long was Oh Alfred?

ohalfred — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 06:37:42 +0000

When we first started looking at decorating the fence … we thought it would be the surrounding fence of the pool that was a full circle of 106m …

Everything kept shifting mostly due to the rainy months of August September… in the end we devised that we could do both Chalmers and Cleveland streets on the fence areas that would not be moving until November… and so we began marking out the areas and working out who what where etc…

We had no idea of the actual length of the entire artwork… and so we took the trundle wheel down to the site and measured the lengths… the total length of Oh Alfred! was….

281 meters! now that’s a lot of fence

check out our new animated created by Jess Fitzpatrick:) simply go to youtube and find the video ‘fence goes up fence goes down’ (we still trying to fix the link chink)

The Final Bump out:)

Why are you taking it down?

ohalfred — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:07:40 +0000

So yes Oh Alfred! has completed bumping out all the amazing colours, shapes and textures…strange to see a bare fence again….

Across the three days of de-installing many passers by were asking ‘Why are you taking it down?’ and then continue with telling us their connection to the park and this project. Even in the stages of taking things down off the fence, folks felt a part of it.

We also had some hands on interaction….. more fantastic additions from anonymous contributors and some handy helpers like Dave who helped out with taking down the wire fence folks:)

Oh Alfred! was a part of Art and About Sydney 2010… and so as it finished a brilliant month of public art on the 25th of Oct – so did Oh Alfred. How quickly did the month fly by! But we still have a few more Oh Alfred! things to do … so stay tuned:)

KEY ARTIST – TEALIA SCOTT

ohalfred — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:01:32 +0000

The project has evolved to represent a silt catchment or stormwater fence, a filter catching memories of ice-skating in Alfred Park.

The collected plastics, industrial waste and textiles are stitched up in the gridlock of cyclone fence. Materials have been salvaged from various dumpsters and building sites across the city.

Kids in the community can see how public art space is all around, crying out for a touch of creative ingenuity. Imagine a city where pictures, paintings, slogans are everywhere and a blank wall, or section of fence, was prime piece of artistic real estate. The works were created with the deft cross-stitch assistance of Rebecca Lampard, Shaearn Mitchell and the
fabulous Boys and Girls Brigade After School Care kids.

Tealia is a prolific Wearable Artist, with over 15 years fashion and arts industry experience, she is re-known for use and re-use of unconventional materials in costume making.

KEY ARTIST – GARTH KNIGHT

ohalfred — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:23:05 +0000

This series of web-like structures is designed to evoke the convoluted multiple webs of the golden orb spiders that are common in Sydney parks and gardens. As they incorporate twigs and leaves into their webs, I also have incorporated parts of the parks flora into the design.
Part of the idea is to give the viewer a feeling of changed scale, as if they are insects viewing these webs at their own scale.
The students at Surry Hills Boys & Girls Brigade After School Care have
assisted in making their own web-like structures, fixed into wire
coathangers.

Garth Knight works in a variety of mediums including photography, digital sculpture, installation and performance.

KEY ARTISTS – JOHN DOE AND LACHLAN MCGUINESS

ohalfred — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 01:54:23 +0000

…give Sydney something to gawk at.
This sculpture celebrates the power of wind as a source of energy. Five to six mechanisms trigger the machine as it converts wind into kinetic energy. Water helps animate the many parts of this seemingly useful sculpture. The design was conceived by John and Lachlan
when the two were walking through Prince Alfred and were inspired by new environmental initiatives being installed by the park. Two that stood out the most to the hopeful pair were the neo-water tank & ezy access bike path.

Punter participation is welcome so get involved and turn that hand crank to see the recycle man in action!

John Doe is an English outsider. Constantly caught red-handed with either paint can or drill. Lachlan McGuinness is a creative man with a well earned sense of building, electrics and robotics.

KEY ARTISTS – MELISSAH CHALKER & SKYE WAGNER

ohalfred — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:14:49 +0000

Our work is a contemplation on urban planning/design, and within that system the role of the park as a visual and psychological breathing space.

Through the use of Google Maps, the park has been abstracted to its basic geometrics and screen-printed on recycled AFT panelling. Using a limited but bold pallet and visual repetition we draw on vernacular of urban postering. Consequently, we play with tension and authority of map/sign and the transient quality of both our artwork and the park’s transformation. The students of 2F from Crown Street Public participated in this project to create one of the panels. As you can see, the shapes of different elements of the park have become their artistic playground. Thanks for your energy and exciting work 2F!

Skye practices across multiple mediums and disciplines, including large scale installations, photography and interactive work. Melissah is currently studying Honors at NAS, specialising in screen printing and installation. She was awarded the graduating printmaking prize 2009.

For more info check out their bios on the Artists page of this blog:)

KEY ARTIST – LUCIA SCURRAH

ohalfred — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:43:26 +0000

Parks are the only real open-access areas where it is OK to stop and hang- Key
out, bring noisy children and pets, eat messy food, become lost in deep
thought and nap and, if one is so inclined, do cartwheels and stand on
one’s head. Thus, they are not just oxygen producing environmental havens
for plants and those hardy animals that share the city with us, nor are they
just pleasant places to inhabit, they are important breathers for the mind
and soul within the urban landscape.

This piece explores the different uses and users of this park and is a tribute
to Prince Alfred Park as one of Sydney’s earliest green spaces. Bourke Street
Public School Year2-3 class worked with me to make the fabulous spinning
thought wheels – thank you Bourke St Public.

Lucia Scurrah is driven by twin passions for textiles and environments. Her work
explores the relationships between human forms, interaction and space. It can
be quirky, colourful, ironic and performative. Lucia lives and works in Sydney,
though some folky Latina influences come from a childhood in Peru.

Check out her bio on our Artists Page

KEY ARTISTS – JONATHAN JAMES

ohalfred — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:47:27 +0000

This work is inspired by the unsaid conversations that occur in public places
like Prince Alfred Park.

The fence provides a writing pad where people are invited to write and
voice their observations, feelings and thoughts. These are created by
moving the colourful letters and attaching them to different parts of the
fence.

This work is constantly evolving through public participation as
people play with language and reflect on their interactions with the park.
It was originally planned for all the messages communicated on this fence
to be transient, but I was so impressed by the response of students at
Bourke St Public School’s Year 4, 5, 6 class that their comment has become a
permanent feature in the work!

Jonathan’s artwork explores various methods of building narratives, methods
that rely on imaginative collaborations with the viewer.

Check out his bio on our Artists page:)