Giant apple sculpture earns permanent placing at Flaxmere Park
The Big Apple Project has hit the streets and while most artists followed the brief and used the fibreglass apple provided as a base, one did not.
Artists Ricks Terstappen and Sharleen Gamble joined to create a giant apple sculpture titled Organic, constructed using repurposed steel.
The artists took the idea of a traditional kete and wove their own contemporary abstract interpretation throughout the sculpture, twined with a circular symbol of unity and inclusivity.
The steel apple is one of 20 appleshaped artworks placed around Hastings, Havelock North and Napier as part of The Big Apple Project.
Organisers Arts Inc. Heretaunga, Studio Benega and the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival wanted to create an apple trail for people to follow on foot.
While most of the apples are placed in and around the Hastings CBD, a few are scattered through the wider Hawke’s Bay so everyone can have a bite of the apple project.
The apple sitting in Flaxmere Park is a part of the apple trail, however this sculpture is special as it will be a permanent feature.
Besides the unique sculpture shape of the Organic apple, it is the first to have been purchased and the only one so far to be put on permanent public display.
A Hastings District Council spokesperson explained that the council was a key funder of the project, but did not purchase an apple.
“We did suggest that it would be wonderful to have one permanently in Flaxmere, which does not have much public art compared to Hastings and Havelock North.
“Fortunately, a private buyer agreed with that vision.”
The spokesperson said, “Ricks’ apple was chosen because it is of durable materials that can withstand being outside and people interacting with it.”
Big Apple Project organisers are also looking at ways to incorporate a light feature to illuminate the Flaxmere Park art installation.