Swell riding
Riding recently to my local beach, I’ve seen a giant turtle, two oversized deck chairs and an army of enormous ants. Strange but true. You see, the Swell Sculpture Festival has been a highlight of my riding over the past fortnight.
Our beachfront esplanade and the beach itself has been a delightful adventure at all times of the day – morning, afternoon and nighttime too. I’ve ridden there, enjoyed not having to worry about traffic snarls or finding a park, and immersed myself in the creative adventure that sculpture can be. I’ve snapped a few (hundred) photos and a little bit of film too. So here’s a collection of images from this year’s festival. I hope you enjoy their magic too.
A pyramid…
…made of bread crates
…looks like this inside!
Giant Turtle at night with silhouette of stranger.
And for a relaxing 33 seconds, enjoy ‘Swirls’…
a bike for all seasons 
Amazing! I particularly liked the family-sized deck chair. At last, no more arguments about who gets to sit on it. We all do! 🙂
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😂 there’s room for a whole village on those chairs. They were huge! I posted this photo on Facebook during the festival and someone thought it was ‘trick’ photo 😄
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It looks so amazing, I can understand why they were fooled.
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while I am not keen on ants, I love the colours of these ones and that kingfisher is stunning.
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The ants were lovely colours to see against the rock Brenda. And the wire they were made of seemed to capture the busy-ness of ants too. The kingfisher colours were really something and not unlike the vibrant colours of our azure kingfishers in the wild. It was beautifully made from tiny tiles.
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Kingfishers are similarly coloured here too
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I didn’t know that Brenda – thanks! 🙂
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The giant turtle and the kingfisher look absolutely amazing. The huge beach chairs are quite stunning.
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Seeing the oversized turtle against the backdrop of a ten story building was amazing. Outdoor exhibitions really suit large sculptures so very well. It was a lot of fun.
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Love the Kingfisher! Haven’t seen that one before. Is the festival attracting many tourists specifically for it? Or mainly people already in the area?
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The Kingfisher was beautiful Dayna – so much detail in the tiny tiles. The festival attracts about 250,000 people over its 10 days. I’m not sure of the tourist/local split but my guess is Gold Coast locals and probably day-trippers from Brisbane represent a significant proportion. The festival is much loved and many people look forward to it each year. Yes, I’m one of them 😀
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An exciting festival with such creative pieces of art for all to see and enjoy! I really enjoyed the trip there, Gail! Thanks for the lovely photos too. 🙂
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That’s so true Iris – I love how festivals like this make art accessible to so many people … and for free!
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Lovely images Gail. My favourite was the ants climbing up Elephant Rock. The bike was certainly the best way to travel. The traffic seems to get worse there each year. It was good to see lots of schoolchildren walking back from viewing. Such a great opportunity right in their backyard.
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Thanks Robyn 🙂
I was amazed at the numbers visiting the festival Robyn. I heard it was about 250,000 people over the ten days. Quite incredible for a single strip of beach. The ants were clever and very effective. Their pastel colours worked really well.
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Such imagination. Where do all of these wonderful creations go after the Festival? There should be a special museum. Ideas like this enthrall me.
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They’re wonderful aren’t they. Most are available for sale. Plus our local government always purchases one of the sculptures for public display. That means the parks in the Gold Coast have a collection of interesting sculptures from the Swell Festival over the years. And that’s wonderful to see.
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What a good use of beautiful and interesting art works.
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Hello Gail
I thought the turtle was the best, until I saw the pyramid. Thanks for the tour!
Jen
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The pyramid was a surprise for me too Jen. I didn’t know whether I’d like being inside it but it was really quite pleasant and gave some interesting perspectives to look from the inside out.
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Loved all the shots! I like all the sculptures but the bread crate creation surprised me. I never would have thought to use them in that way. I wish I’d made it to the festival. Thanks for sharing it with us. 🙂
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Thanks Jane! 🙂 The bread crates are quite purposeful too. Apart from being interesting visually, and experientially, the sculpture also had a powerful message about economic inequality. The pyramid represents the distribution of most wealth to a small percentage of the world’s population. The bread crates play on the slang of ‘bread’ or ‘dough’ for money. So it was quite clever.
Swell is always an enjoyable ten days and it’s a joy to share it 🙂
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Loved your photos, Gail. The Festival looks like a lot of fun – so much imagination on display. I admired the piece utilising the lids of bottles.
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The bottle lids were really effective. Their re-purposing made me look at them differently. I felt this sculpture said a lot about the plastic overload that bottled drinks produce.
Thanks Margaret 🙂
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