The 2024 Palmer Sculpture Biennial

Image above: Greg Johns  The Kiss (Buried Alive)  2022-23  Corten steel  140 x 486 x 18cm

“Congratulations to Greg Johns on what he has created at Palmer. This is a nationally important project with Australian sculpture in the Australian landscape. It is also a huge undertaking that brings joy to many and a wonderful opportunity for the artists.”

– David Handley AM, Founding CEO and Artistic Director, Sculpture by the Sea

The Palmer Sculpture Biennial takes place in a hilly 400 acre property near the township of Palmer on the way to Mannum. Strolling over a rise in a landscape that includes escarpments, rocky outcrops and open countryside and suddenly encountering a striking sculpture is an unforgettable experience. In such a setting, these works have much greater impact than they could achieve in a Gallery. It will include works from 22 leading artists, including 1 from overseas and three from interstate. 2 emerging artists are included and this year’s Honoured Artist will be Stelarc.

The Palmer Biennial is a unique event

The first Palmer Sculpture Biennial was held in 2004, and since then they have gained an impressive reputation both locally and internationally. The event is now one of the longest, continually running sculpture exhibitions in the history of sculpture in Australia.  Many people who have experienced past biennials now make a point of attending each new one.

Curated by Adelaide sculptor Greg Johns and Robert Lindsay (former Director of McClelland Sculpure Park+Gallery), the biennial is aiming to show a large number of works, the emphasis is on quality, artistic merit, and the way they interact with an Australian environment.  A high priority is that visitors should be able to engage with both sculpture and place.

Opening Day and Music Event, Saturday March 16th

Open to the public on weekends 11am to 5.30pm and Wednesdays 2 to 5.30pm until Sunday April 14th

Greg Johns – Recipient of the Sculpture By The Sea Helen Lempriere Scholarship

Image: Greg Johns  Sit Down Fella (Contemplative)  2023  Corten Steel, for Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2023.

We are delighted to announce that renowned sculptor Greg Johns has been awarded the 2023 Helen Lempriere Scholarship by Sculpture by the Sea, in the category of Senior Australian Sculptor.

Greg Johns, a full-time sculptor for nearly 50 years, has completed major commissions in Australia and internationally, as well as exhibiting annually in solo/major group shows in Australia, New York, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. A member of both the Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi and Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe Decade Clubs, Johns has participated at both exhibitions a combined 21 times.

Johns has run an independent sculpture and environmental landscape at Palmer in South Australia since 2001.

The Helen Lempriere Scholarship will fund new machinery and materials for Johns’ studio, and travel to Sydney and Melbourne to research sacred and contemporary sculpture.

Greg stated that, “I have worked 47 years full-time as a sculptor in Australia. The journey has been both a ‘hard fought’ and heartfelt one. I am genuinely grateful to receive the senior Helen Lempriere Scholarship, acknowledging my contribution to a sculptural sensibility, which reflects both the uniqueness of Australia and universal forces.”

To read more about Greg Johns and view a selection of the artist’s work, click here

Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2023

Image above: Ayako Saito  Lunar Shadow  2019. Installation view at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, 2023. Photo by Jessica Wyld.

Congratulations to Richard Goodwin, Greg Johns, Peter Lundberg, Ron Robertson-Swann and Ayako Saito, whose works were included in the recent Sculpture by the Sea, Cottlesloe exhibition.

Over 70 artists participated in this year’s SxS, staged on the beautiful Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia. The exhibition, now in its nineteenth year, featured from the sea wall all the way along the sand towards North Cottesloe and on the surrounding grassed areas, creating a beautiful sculpture park.

 

Sculpture by the Sea, Cottlesloe
Cottesloe Beach, Perth
Final day 20 March 2023

 

Richard Goodwin  Turbulence  aluminium, stainless steel, mild steel, plastic, concrete  441 x 225 x 225 cm
Photograph by B.Horgan @technicolour_vision

Greg Johns  Horizon Figure  2020. Installation view at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, 2023. Photo by Michael Goh.

“This year, South Australian artist Greg Johns joins the Cottesloe Decade Club, with his work ‘Horizon Figure (2020)’, being the tenth work he has exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe since 2006. The large corten steel work is from a series which explores connections with the Australian landscape.” – Sculpture by the Sea Instagram page

Peter Lundberg  Traveller. Installation view at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, 2023. Photo by Jessica Wyld.

Ron Robertson-Swann OAM  The Sculptor’s Sketchbook  2020. Installation view at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, 2023. Photo by Michael Goh.

Ayako Saito  Lunar Shadow  2019. Installation view at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, 2023. Photo by Jessica Wyld.

Callout for Submissions – The 11th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2024

Greg Johns  Monument to Jandamarra. Installation view at the 9th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2022. Photograph by Michal Kluvanek.

Submissions are now open for the Palmer Sculpture Biennial, taking place for four weeks in March/April 2024. 

Steven Cybulka and Craige Andrae  Second Fix. Installation view at the 9th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2022. 

Approximately 24 artists will be chosen to exhibit at the remote Palmer Hills, 76 kms east of Adelaide.

Curated by Adelaide sculptor Greg Johns and Robert Lindsay (former Director of McClelland Sculpure Park+Gallery), the Biennial aims to display the works of chosen artists alongside an invited senior artist and two early-career sculptors. Artists from across Australia and overseas are invited to submit.

Chris Ormerod  Fullers Gate. Installation view at the 9th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2022. 

In 2001, Greg Johns purchased this 400-acre property with the intention of ecologically rehabilitating the landscape and displaying his works and the work of other contemporary sculptors, a concept which soon evolved into the Palmer Sculpture Biennial.

Commencing in 2004, the Biennial now stands as one of the longest running and leading sculpture events in Australia, and is the recipient of several awards and accolades. It has received significant publicity at a national and international level, regularly attracting artists from Europe and the United States.

David Jensz  Pebble  2020. Installation view at the 8th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2020.

“For those accustomed to exhibiting within the confines of gallery walls it can be an exhilarating and a challenging experience to exhibit at Palmer. The space is vast, the horizon far distant in this very Australian landscape. How to compete? To lie low and embrace the earth? Or to dramatically rear up and confront the space? Palmer has its unique challenges – and great rewards.”

– Ken Scarlett OAM

Stephen King  Pipeline. Installation view at the 9th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2022. 

“When it comes to art, Palmer is a hostile environment. Each work sited here has to rely on its own wits to grapple with such demanding terrain rather than lean on each other for visual support in more curated surroundings. Importantly, they all have room to breathe.”

– John Neylon

Union Street Sculptors  Under Wraps. Installation view at the 9th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2022.

Submissions are due by Thursday 1 June, 2023. 

Submissions can be emailed to palmersculpturebiennial@gmail.com. For more information regarding submissions, please contact Greg Johns or Bill Clifford via the Biennial’s website page.

David Atkins  Dead Tree II, Reconciliation. Installation view at the 8th Palmer Sculpture Biennial, 2020.

Greg Johns – Lochaven Reserve Commission

Image above: Seaing the Land – Feeling the Land (Bottle Tree)  2022  Corten steel, stainless steel, and bronze casting  350 cm. Seen installed at Lochaven Reserve, City of Casey.

Congratulations to Greg Johns, who has had his work Seaing the Land – Feeling the Land (Bottle Tree) installed at Lochaven Reserve, commissioned by City of Casey on 3 November 2022.

Greg Johns was chosen from a shortlist of sculptors to create this work for the City of Casey.

Johns says: “This work comes from drawings I’ve done of bottle trees in the interior. Included in the sculpture is a bronze casting of a bottle tree seed pod and a stainless steel boat form. The boat form symbolizes incoming European arrival while the bottle tree seed pod symbolizes what was here prior to colonisation. Both of these elements are formative constructs for contemporary Australia. At Lochaven, this sculpture softens the harsh lines of the housing development with its organic form.”

 

Visit the Australian Galleries online stockroom to view a selection of available works by Greg Johns here

 

Seaing the Land – Feeling the Land (Bottle Tree), installation view at Lochaven Reserve, City of Casey.

James Parrett and Greg Johns – Finalists in the Montalto Sculpture Prize 2022

M-fiftyfour  2022  stainless steel  170 x 225 x 187 cm.

Congratulations to James Parrett and Greg Johns who have been announced as finalists in the 20th anniversary of the Montalto Sculpture Prize, located at Montalto Vineyard & Olive Grove, for their respective works M-fiftyfour and Landing, Landlines, Songlines.

The Montalto Sculpture Prize is an acquisitive award that seeks to encourage artistic pursuit in a public forum. Now in its 20th year, the Sculpture Prize runs as an exhibition on the grounds of the Montalto Vineyard throughout summer.

 

2022 Montalto Sculpture Prize Exhibition
Montalto Vineyard & Olive Grove
33 Shoreham Road, Red Hill South VIC 3937
19 November 2022 – 30 April 2023

 

Greg Johns  Landing, Landlines, Songlines  red gum, jarrah, steel  varying heights 220-290 cm, approx 600 cm diameter installation. (7 pieces).

 

‘Sculpture by the Sea’ – on until 7 November

Image above: installation view, Camie Lyons  Impromptu Making and Shadow  steel, paint  350 x 250 x 190 cm.

Australian Galleries is pleased to share that several of the gallery’s represented and notable artists are currently showing in the latest iteration of Sculpture by the Sea. Now in its 24th year, this public outdoor sculpture exhibition – the largest of its kind in the world – is showcasing over 100 artworks by Australian and international sculptors.

Ayako Saito  Tomb of Atreus  2022  steel, painted  210 x 180 x 230 cm.

 “The geometry of the parts of this sculpture, through their relation, add up to a new thing.” – Ayako Saito

Ron Robertson-Swann  Pythagoras  1984  steel, painted  182 x 227 x 267 cm.

“Pythagoras knew a thing or 2.” – Ron Robertson-Swann

Front and back views: Richard Tipping  The Sanctuary of Distance  2020/2022  edition 7  reflective tape, aluminium sheet, galvanised pole  70 x 90 x 5 cm.

“This work is comprised of four different signs, each double-sided with ‘Oh No’ on one side, and ‘Oh Yes’ on the other. It brings the template of the “Danger” sign into new use both as a cry of distress (‘Oh No’) and as a space for resolution and repair (‘Oh Yes’).”

“The sanctuary of distance is declared; and sculpture’s contemplative nature is announced.” – Richard Tipping

Richard Goodwin  Turbulence  aluminium  stainless steel, mild steel, plastic, concrete  441 x 225 x 225 cm.

“This work speaks to the park and dramatises the site. It is both tree-like and a furious seaweed cluster under water. The audience is left to draw the wind in their minds as the turbulence builds.” – Richard Goodwin

Michael Le Grand  Global Minuet  2020  painted steel  240 x 410 x 200 cm.

Michael Snape  Slow Turn  2020  steel  240 x 300 x 240 cm.

“Eighteen lines drawn, eighteen lines cut, bent eighteen times, obtuse or acute, making a Slow Turn.” – Michael Snape

Greg Johns  Horizon Figure  2018-2020  edition 3  corten steel  310 x 400 x 80 cm.

“This work is from a series which explores connection with the Australian landscape. This organic and complex work references the broken stone forms of our unique, weathered landscape.” – Greg Johns

Camie Lyons  Impromptu Making and Shadow  2019  steel, paint  350 x 250 x 190 cm.

“I picked up discarded wire and coaxed it into form. I found beauty in the tangled landscape. These works are those experiments blown up. The challenge was to remain true to the original continuous line work and resist the temptation to redirect.” – Camie Lyons

Jock Clutterbuck  The Orange Tree  2020  fabricated and cast aluminium  210 x 130 x 47 cm.

“The Orange Tree is the title of an early poem by John Shaw Neilson who grew up and worked as a labourer in the Western Wimmera region of Victoria where I also grew up.” – Jock Clutterbuck

James Parrett  M-fifty  2022  stainless steel  230 x 310 x 230 cm.

“M-fifty is primarily inspired by the aesthetic potential of the circular form and what can be achieved through the dissection and reconfiguration of radial arcs.” – James Parrett

Sculpture by the Sea continues until 7 November.

Sculpture by the Sea: 24th Exhibition
Bondi to Tamarama Beach
21 October – 7 November 2022

‘Sculpture Inside’

‘Sculpture Inside’, the small sculpture exhibition component of Sculpture by the Sea is now showing at Marquee, Mark’s Park, Tamarama – on the Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi exhibition trail until 7 November.

The beautiful works below by Jimmy Rix, Camie Lyons, Ayako Saito and Ron Robertson-Swann are part of this dynamic exhibition of small scale pieces.

“Sculpture Inside’ is our free to the public indoor exhibition located in a pop-up marquee in Marks Park on the exhibition trail, showcasing small artwork by Sculpture by the Sea exhibiting artists.

We welcome visitors to come in and marvel at the presentation of sculpture on a small scale, displaying the diversity of the artist’s practice.
‘Sculpture Inside’ also provides a unique opportunity to purchase sculpture by emerging, mid-career and established Australian and International artists.”

 Above: Jimmy Rix The Sleeping Gypsy (after Rousseau)  bronze  edition of 9  21 x 33 x 25 cm

 

Above: Camie Lyons  Whirlpool  2021  bronze  46 x 49 x 44 cm

Above: Ayako Saito

 

Above:RonRobertson-Swann