SCULPTING LORNE’S CULTURE

The event is an innovative visual spectacular, exploring the artist’s unique stories and social commentary through large- and small-scale sculptures and performance art over the course of three weeks.
Since its inception in 2007, it has grown significantly, drawing crowds from across the state, and more recently from across the country, to become one of the Great Ocean Road’s largest ongoing cultural events.
Audiences can wander the Sculpture Trail, take part in a wide range of workshops, see artists’ talks at their sites, view performance art projects and more throughout the festival.
Event curator Julie Collins is the woman tasked with transforming the town into an artist’s canvas each year. “This year we’ll see themes of environment, social justice, the body and self, war, asylum seeking and other more subtle themes throughout,” she said.
“These sculptors hold a mirror up to society and in some cases can make the audience feel uncomfortable.
“In other cases, they can draw attention to such issues through their art, empowering the audience to consider, discuss and empathise, allowing us to reflect on some of the most important issues of our time.”
The biennale aims to attract established art-lovers, as well as catch the attention of new audiences who come across the free festival by accident.
Collins said this combination of audiences and their disparate perspectives creates a challenge for the artists, as well as new social angles for the town.
“Some come to see the sculptures while others just happen upon it as coincidence and each person’s experience needs to be considered by the sculptor. This is what makes sculpture so exciting.
“Lorne is the perfect place for an event like this. It’s quite an iconic town so many people are nostalgic about it.
“Introducing sculptures on this scale creates a new symbol for transformation, and shows the town in a completely different light.
“The township itself has really embraced the arts and the support for the festival is at 100 per cent. That’s something we really appreciate and it’s one of the major reasons for the festival’s continued success.”
Lorne will be showcased to its full potential this year, with the introduction of “Major Projects” at three signature sites – the pier, the foreshore and Erskine River near the Swing Bridge.
Three projects have been selected: Josh Muir – Pier, Mark Douglass – Foreshore, and Aaron Robinson – Erskine River.
Each will function as a punctuation point for the Sculpture Trail and all will have a lighting element to bring the sculpture to life at night.
“I had this idea to fund artists properly to create major projects for these significant sites,” Collins said.
“Sculptures are generally quite expensive to create, and it’s been great to put out the call to artists to create fully funded projects on a large scale.
“The night element was also important. A lot of people stay overnight in Lorne and I personally love walking the trail at night, so we thought we’d really expand into evening attractions.
“Before maybe six out of 40 pieces were lit up, but now there are many more and certainly there’s never been anything of the scale of our Major Projects. It’s going to be very new and very exciting to see.”
Another new feature this year is the inclusion of artworks in Wye River. Sculptures will be placed in the town to extend the festival’s tourism reach and help support the communities of Wye River and Separation Creek in the wake of the LorneJamieson Track fire.
More support for the fire-affected region came this week with Channel Nine’s Today Show broadcasting live from Lorne yesterday (Wednesday).
Lorne was chosen as a broadcast location to update viewers on how the region is recovering from the fire, which occurred over the Christmas and New Year period.
The broadcast included a live performance by Missy Higgins, dog races, a hamburger-making competition, giveaways and more.
The Lorne Sculpture Biennale is on from Saturday March 12 to Sunday April 3.
For more information and the full event guide, head to lornesculpture.com.