Sculptures by the Sea 2013

This is a belated post, as Sculptures by the Sea was held in March this year. I absolutely love this yearly event which is held at Cottesloe beach in Perth. It is such a lovely day out, especially when combined with brunch at one of Cott's great beachfront cafes.

Here are my favourite offerings from 2013:

Look This Way by Ken Unsworth. Sydneysiders might recognise this guy from the Sculptures in the Sea held at Bondi in 2011, where it won the Children's Choice Award.

Ghost Net Crocodile 2011 by GhostNets Australia. It is made out of 'ghost nets', abandoned fishing nets which pose a risk to sealife. GhostNets Australia is an alliance of over 22 indigenous communities from coastal northern Australia across the three states of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland.  Since its inception, the programme has supported Indigenous Rangers to remove over 7,500 ghost nets of varying sizes.

Menang (memory) by Cave Urban. Cave Urban is a design collective of architects and musicians with a focus on sustainable living systems. Modelled on bird-scaring devices in Balinese rice paddies, each pole was carefully tuned to the chord D-minor sustained, and made an eerie but beautiful sound as the wind passed through. It won the People's Choice Prize in Perth this year.

Hard Rain Landscape 1 by Hugh McLachlan. According to the artist, "The steel frames focus the viewer and landscape, while the structure itself reflects aspects of landscape through form, texture and light."

The Optimist by Stephen Marr. I can imagine this guy as public art, he would make a wonderful addition to any communal space. About this sculpture, the artist states "It is in direct response to the political, economic, social pessimism that seems to be currently dominating world culture. For the brief time that I hold a persons attention with this work I wanted to make them see what a wonderful place (state of mind) this is."

Happy Floating Dream Cloud by Kathy Allam. A mobile made of hundreds of bright plastic kids toys! It's no wonder that it won the Kids' Choice Prize in Perth. I heard one little boy pointing at it and screaming "Look, we have that toy at daycare!"

Pot Luck by Lewis Horne. Mr Horne is an artist from Nannup in WA, and his sculpture is a tribute to the western rock lobster and the dwindling art of pot-making (I'm not entirely sure what 'pot-making' actually is).

A view over the beach with some statues (including a red chilli) in sight.