Walkway home for two symposium sculptures
After being created from scratch on New Plymouth’s Coastal Walkway, two stone symposium sculptures are there to stay.
The Seat, by Arno De Vaan, and The Chase, by Silvio Apponyi, will not be moving far from where they were made as they’ve been bought for New Plymouth by the Art in Public Places Trust – for $10,000 each.
The sculptures were created at Te Kupenga Biennial International Stone Sculpture Symposium, which saw more than 20 artists sculpt two andesite stones over 20 days at the Coastal Walkway before each piece was auctioned off.
The trust, which receives $50,000 annually from the New Plymouth District Council, decided to buy two sculptures in support of the event, trust chair Terry Parkes said.
‘‘We acknowledge the stone symposium is one of the many wonderful things that happen in Taranaki,’’ Parkes said.
The stone symposium started on January 4, with two artists from Australia, one from Turkey, six artists from around New Zealand and 19 from Taranaki.
Once the sculptures were completed on January 26, a week-long exhibition ran before they were auctioned off on February 1.
Parkes said the trust had wanted some art for the walkway for a while and the council recommended the symposium.
‘‘Over the years we pick out work that we think is thought provoking and will create reaction,’’ he said. ‘‘Everyone was sitting on The Seat. It was the most popular.’’
Parkes said the trust planned to put The Seat near where the symposium was held, and it would be facing the sea view with the Wind Wand.
‘‘We think it’ll be a huge attraction.’’ He said they also intended to put The Chase, which shows a seal chasing a kahawai, along the walkway near where seals can sometimes be seen sunbathing.
In an emailed statement, Andrea Cooper, one of the symposium’s organisers, said 44 sculptures went up for auction and most sold. Cooper said the remainder are under negotiation and would not reveal individual sale figures.