Ten Thousand Steps Interpretative Sculpture Walk

Materials:

Recycled aluminium, glass, steel, photographic prints and hardwood.

Concept:

From the main street in Gloucester an oversized pair of binoculars stands on a sturdy metal base. They appear to be pointing toward the southern end of the mountain known as the Bucketts. When you attempt to look through them you discover they are too large to see through both lenses at once, so you peer through one to discover that they are not ordinary binoculars after all.

You may have expected the typical tourist view of the Bucketts, but through the lens there is more than just the mountains in the distance to be seen, there is also a vision from the past. An image of a group of young men wearing long hair and short shorts are pictured trying to pull a car (a Holden Kingswood) out of a flooded garage. The image is transparent and so you can see that the garage is still there today.

Stepping back from the binoculars text can be seen etched into one face of the rectangular steel post that supports them. Upon reading, it explains that the image in the lens was taken in the 1978 flood. But what is this object doing here on the footpath?

Looking around a sign explains that on the wall that explains that this is one of a series of binoculars placed around an informative interpretive art trail through the park. There is a map dipicting five other sculptures around the park. The sign also informs that walking ten thousand steps a day keeps you healthy. (How many have you walked today?)

Following the trail the next pair of binoculars with etched text on the post informs there were cattle and pig yards here before. Looking through the binoculars visually confirms the information. The binoculars are not all the same but they are recognisable as a series and become visual links, a way to navigate the walk and provide information about interesting stories from Gloucester’s past on the way. There are other stories that wait to be discovered, hidden in the park, in the lenses of these oversized binoculars.

The images and stories for the five sculptures are collected from the people of Gloucester. The aluminium binoculars are made from recycled machinery parts donated by the community. The timber steps are made from old hardwood bridge timber from the area. The work was researched, designed, developed and constructed in Gloucester by the Gloucester Public Art Committee and artist in residence Tricia Flanagan.

Project partners:

• Gloucester Public Art Committee
• Arts Upper Hunter
• Gloucester Shire Council
• The University of Newcastle
• Gloucester Beautification Committee
• Gloucester Heritage Society
• Gloucester Art Gallery.

Exhibitions:

• ‘Public Art and Alternative Tactics in Post-Acquisitive Society, Part One: Rural’ Hellen Rose Schaumberger Labratorium, Surry Hills Australia. Dec 2008.
• 10,000 Steps Interpretative Walk, Public Art project, five locations around Gloucester town and park, Gloucester NSW, Australia. On permanent public display. Launched 2007. (Walk maps available at the Gloucester Art Gallery and the Tourist Information Centre.)