Sculpture by the Sea

The Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Sydney and Perth is Australia's largest annual outdoor sculpture exhibition. This exhibition was initiated in 1997, at Bondi Beach and it featured sculptures by both Australian and overseas artists. In 2005, a companion event was established at Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia featuring over 70 artists. In 2009 it was announced that Aarhus in Denmark would host the first Sculpture by the Sea exhibition outside of Australia.

This exhibition is held annually during spring in Australia, from late October to early November for three weeks. Over 100 local, interstate and international artists participate every year. Sculpture by the Sea is incredibly popular and draws considerable crowds. In 2014 Waverley Council estimated that between 450,000 and 500,000 people would visit the sculptures during their exhibition in Sydney.

In 1995, David Handley, founder of Sculpture by the Sea, was living in Prague. He visited an outdoor sculpture park in Klatovy, Northern Bohemia. He was inspired to do something similar in Australia. On his return to Sydney in 1996, His friends suggested the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk as a suitable location. At first, he planned on having paintings as well as sculptures, naming this exhibition "Art by the Sea" but dropped the idea as the weather can be unpredictable on the coast. This is how Sculpture by the Sea came into being.

The first exhibition was put together in a span of 10 weeks and on a shoestring budget. It was held over one day at Bondi and garnered a lot of interest from the media and 20,000 spectators. They received a total of 189 entries from 138 artists and featured 64 of them. The judges included David Cook (Christie's), John MacDonald (Sydney Morning Herald), Terence Measham (Powerhouse Museum), Dr Gene Sherman (Sherman Galleries) and Sculptor Ron Robertson-Swann

The exhibition has only suffered from the weather on the coast. In 1998, rough conditions on the coastline, lead to six sculptures being damaged. Ann Thompson's sculpture worth $40,000 was damaged due to huge waves. In 1999, Duncan Stemler's Give a little whistle was wrecked due to rough weather conditions. The exhibition also suffered from some vandalism, Carol Murphy's $2000 still life The Watcher was stolen only for one part of it to be returned. in 1999, part of Tom Bass's Gender Pieces was pushed into the sea by vandals.

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Wikipedia