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The Sculpture Garden |
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The Stone International Sculpture Symposium was held in the Maroochy Bushlands Botanic Gardens in 2005. It was organised by the Friends of the Maroochy Bushlands Botanic Gardens, with the support of the Maroochy Shire Council and eight generous benefactors. For sixteen days eight sculptors chipped, cut and carved monumental sculptures from tonnes of quality Queensland stone. Unlike most public works which are produced in artists' studios, this gave the public the opportunity to see large stone sculptures actually evolve from raw natural stone. |
| About the Stone The sandstone, from Helidon near Toowoomba has been used for 100 years, especially in buildings in Brisbane and Ipswich. Of exceptional quality, it is now used throughout Australia and is exported. Formed over 150 million years ago, through sedimentation of sand, and water seepage reconnecting the silica particles, it is a fine, reasonably hard sandstone, yet very forgiving for sculptors to work with. The lovely 'figuring' in its markings can enhance the sculptural form. The marble is from Chillagoe, about 200km west of Cairns where a small quarrying industry produces an incredible variety of marble. 300 million years ago the coral reef on the then coastline was compressed and heated during immense seismic activity. In the huge melting pot of limestone, white shells and coral were crystallized to form the pure white marble of today. Coloured marble is due to impurities, the black resulting from the blending of the reef with mudflats. Marble varies in hardness depending on the crystal size.
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The Bushland Sculpture Garden is a Friends of Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens Inc. project. We saw this area as our piece of marble. Like the sculptors, we knew the garden was already there - we have simply taken what was needed to be taken, added what was needed to be added, and revealed the beauty of what nature has provided Everybody needs beauty
as well as bread John Muir 1901
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