WORK has begun to create a new sculpture to call Peninsula Link home.
McClelland Gallery is accepting expressions of interest for its $300,000 “Southern Way McClelland Commission”. The successful applicant will create an artwork to be installed along Peninsula Link adjacent to the Skye Road bridge near the southbound Langwarrin exit ramp.
The new sculpture will be installed in 2025. Peninsula Pearls by Manon Van Kouswijk was placed at the site in 2021.
McClelland Gallery director Lisa Byrne is encouraging artists to “think expansively and creatively as to what may be possible for the Skye Road site.”
“Don’t be swayed by what has previously been installed. Bring your own interpretation to this process. There is no other public sculpture commission in Australia like this,” Byrne said.
“By inviting artists to submit expressions of interest McClelland aims to deliver best practice, not requiring artists to submit full design briefs, engineering considerations, or detailed budgets. It’s the quality of the ideas and concept that counts. McClelland will work with the winning artist and Southern Way to turn the winning EOI into a reality.”
The sculptures are rotated every four years as part of a partnership between Southern Way and McClelland Gallery. In the last month the Love Flower and Reflective Lullaby sculptures have been removed from their roadside sites to make way for new works (“Gnome no more by road” The Times 17/10/23).
Expressions of interest for the Skye Road sculpture site close on 8 December, 2023.
For more information visit mcclelland.org.au/pages/public-sculpture-commissions