Feature Image credit: David Basham MP
This weekend, an incredible live art installation is taking place in Middleton, where artist Silvio Apponyi is carving huge wooden whales from fallen trees.
Every day this Easter, you can see Silvio carving “Buttons & Bobby” from Saturday 8 April to Tuesday 11 April from around 9:30am to 4pm.
The project will deliver stunning sculptures of a Southern Right Whale mother and her calf, their final resting place near the shores of Middleton.
The whale sculptures will be named after ‘Buttons,’ a Southern Right Whale who has visited the area in 2013, 2017 and 2022, giving birth each time in the waters of Encounter Bay. Buttons’ most recent baby, a male born in the 2022 season, was named ‘Bobby.
This incredible project started in 2021, when a large red gum tree, many hundreds of years old, fell on a property near Naracoorte, South Australia. Rather than have this tree turned into firewood, conceptualiser and Project Manager Jen Watts dreamed of a more illustrious future for this magnificent red gum that would be enjoyed by millions. The owner of the land agreed to donate the tree to the township of Middleton.
In consultation with Alexandrina Council, it was agreed the perfect artist to sculpt the tree was the world-acclaimed Australian sculptor Silvio Apponyi OAM. Based in the Adelaide Hills, Silvio takes inspiration for his magnificent work from Australian fauna. Silvio has an ongoing and close relationship with Alexandrina Council.
Silvio instantly fell in love with the project and was thrilled to be invited.
Jen and Silvio travelled to Naracoorte so Silvio could evaluate the tree for shape and quality, and the process of planning, budgeting and fundraising could begin.
The tree was on a body of land that every 10 years or so is completely underwater (see photos below). Concerned that winter 2022 could be a wet one, arrangements were made to chainsaw extraneous limbs and move the tree to higher ground via two cranes and flat-bed semi-trailer.
Silvio identified the limbs he required with spray paint, and local woodsmith and chainsaw operator, David Williams was hired to remove the extraneous limbs from the tree.
The three parts of the tree (the main body of Buttons, her fins and her calf, Bobby) were then removed with two cranes onto a semi-trailer, by South East haulage firm, Gericke Bulk Handling. The tree then sat in their yard in Naracoorte, before being transported the 350 kilometres to Middleton in March 2023.
At that point, engineered cement footings were built according to council specifications.
Next up on this epic adventure, a crane was be waiting on location for the semi-trailer to arrive, and the tree was positioned at Silvio’s direction, ready for carving from 3 April.
Now spectators can witness the creation in action as this ancient and magnificent fallen red gum tree from near Naracoorte will be transformed into art by celebrated sculptor, Silvio Apponyi.
The location of the carving, and final resting point for the sculptures is below.
Information courtesy of MiddletonSA.com.au
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