Photo Aslan Shand.
Thirty years ago it was the totem poles that now stand at the Gateway to Mullumbimby opposite Uncle Toms that were being carved on the riverbanks of Mullumbimby and today it is the success of the inaugural Mullumbimby sculpture walk that is being celebrated.
Over the weekend of the Mullum Music Festival the Ingenuity Sculptural Festival was made up of 26 sculptures that were placed around Mullumbimby’s Palm Park, from the Scout Hall to Federation Bridge, attracting hundreds of visitors. The sculpture walk built on the two existing permanent sculptures in the park giving people a chance to envision the slowly building permeant sculpture collection that is being developed.
‘These are exciting times for Creative Mullum as Mullum Chamber of Commerce Treasurer, Susan Tsicalas, handed over the first instalment of $10,000 for the funding for the new major sculptural work to be added addition to the Mullum Sculpture Walk,’ said Suvira McDonald from Creative Mullum.
The third permeant sculpture to be added will be Elevate by Ellen Ferrier that came from a brief that called for a sculpture that captured the ‘Spirit of Chincogan’. It is hoped that the sculpture will be installed in early 2019.
Ingenuity Festival
The Christina Khumari Peoples Choice Award of $500 was awarded to John Walters for his mob of wire wallabies Wish you were Here while the $5,000 prize went to Jason Manning for his carved wooden sculpture entitled Germination.
‘The fest has been a great boost for the visual culture of the town and looks like becoming an annually recurring event with talk already amongst the organisers of an extended duration for the 2019 fest. Exciting times indeed,’ said Suvira.
