Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

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Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.
Showing posts with label Darling Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darling Island. Show all posts

Wednesday 2 September 2020

Castle on a hill

Today's painting on the deck gallery was a panorama of Ways Terrace painted in 1994, when Pyrmont was a work in progress.
Ways Terrace is located at 12-20 Point Street, and is now known more prosaically as the Point Street flats.
Plein air oil painting of Ways Terrace in Pyrmont by Jane Bennett
P98 Ways Terrace 1994 oil on board 41 x 122cm








 
 
 
 
For nearly two decades, Ways Terrace was the sole occupant of the Point Street hilltop.
A castle on a hill, with a commanding position, precariously positioned on a rocky outcrop towering over the surrounding land.
Plein air ink & wash drawing of Ways Terrace in Pyrmont by artist Jane Bennett














 
 
P36 'Ways terrace from Lower Jones Bay Road'
1993 ink on paper 31 x 41cm 
However it is neither the rumoured birthplace of King Arthur, a crusader castle nor a Walt Disney fairytale castle, but Housing Commission flats. Many battles have been fought there, but they have involved residents and squatters against developers, residents against various government and semi-government departments, and old residents against new residents. These battles more often featured guerrilla tactics and ferocious political manoeuvering so they have remained uncelebrated in myth and legend.
The "moat" was the railway cutting. Then a second line of defence was excavated when CRI demolished the pretty flower garden planted by Karen and other residents, leaving a gaping wound of bare sandstone. After the 1987 stock market crash, CRI went bankrupt but their legacy of a hole in the ground remained for 15 years.
Two skeletons of dead trees atop a mound stood like an accusing two fingered salute pointing skyward in defiance.
The hole filled with water, becoming a moat to the Ways Terrace “castle” & attracted ducks & pelicans.
Plein air oil painting nocturne of Ways Terrace in Pyrmont by artist Jane Bennett
P86 Night,Ways Terrace   1994 
oil on canvas  91 x 61 cm
Ways Terrace was designed by notable architect Professor Leslie Wilkinson in association with architect Joseph Fowell and submitted for the Sydney City Council's Housing Project Competition in 1923, which it won. 
The land had become available after the completion of the construction of the Jones Bay finger wharves and their associated waterfront roadway, Jones Bay Road. The housing formerly on the land in the vicinity had been resumed by the government for wharf purposes and demolished except for a few individual buildings. Ways Terrace marked when the original working class housing was displaced by industrial and commercial development, followed by a concerted government endeavour to resettle residents in better quality accommodation.
It dramatically contrasts how the government attitude to low cost housing in Sydney has changed from the early twentieth century to a century later.
Plein air oil painting of Ways Terrace in Pyrmont by artist Jane Bennett
P98 Ways Terrace 1994 oil on board 41 x 122cm
Ways Terrace is a four storey rendered brick apartment block, located prominently on the skyline, in a series of five cubic blocks which step down the hillside. 
Leslie Wilkinson was a leading exponent of inter-war Mediterranean design, & this building is a key element of the Pyrmont cityscape. 
I always tried to pin down what it reminded me of. Finally when I visited Florence, I realized how similar in style it was to the structures built on the bridge over the Arno.
The Florentine character of Ways Terrace is established by the protruding balconies in the form of loggias & the trellised uppermost level of balconies. Plain rendered surfaces cast strong shadows. Windows are rectangular and multiple paned. Round arched openings define the entrance doors & there is a dramatic arched bridge over a laneway to the rear (the Ways Terrace street). The building has shallow pitched, terracotta tiled gable roofs with wide eaves. 

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Friday 26 June 2020

Royal Edward Victualling Yards (REVY), Darling Island, Pyrmont

Today's painting on the deck shows a small panorama of Sydney Harbour with a cargo ship berthed at the East Darling Harbour Wharves in the background. The strange looking building in the centre surrounded by piles of timber is the REVY C building on Darling Island. I painted it in the early 1990s from Ways Terrace.
Plein air oil painting of East Darling Harbour Wharves, Sydney Harbour and REVY, Darling Island in Pyrmont  painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett







 
 
 
P8'REVY C from Ways Terrace'
1992 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
On Darling Island, nothing is now left of the timber and shipbuilding yards. Today the water’s edge bristles with new apartment blocks gazing over sheltered waters. Yet beneath the silvery surface lies a hidden history.
The Royal Edward Victualling Yard, ( REVY A,B & C), was built between 1890 and 1911, by the revered Government architect Walter Liberty Vernon in the Federation Free style.
They were some of the last working buildings on the Pyrmont waterfront and had rivettingly odd architecture. Revy A and B  consisted of a 5 storey and a 6 storey pair of large red brick warehouses set at right angles to each other and linked by a square central  water reservoir tower. They were built in a flamboyant neo-Gothic style which reminded me irresistibly of the Bargello in Florence.
Plein air oil painting of East Darling Harbour Wharves, Sydney Harbour and REVY, Darling Island in Pyrmont  painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
P8'REVY C from Ways Terrace'
1992 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Revy C is a narrow, skinny, rather ungainly eight-storey, red brick Federation Warehouse, and still the tallest structure on Darling Island.  It had a rusticated ashlar bluestone ground floor, and a riveted truss jib crane facing Jones Bay Wharf. Its 4 large lift towers on the roof always reminded me of the crenellations on top of medieval castles.
Early fire fighting relied on steam pumped water pressure which could only reach up to a maximum of 2 storeys. So the set of external steel fire stairs at either end were a very practical solution to this problem, even though I used to curse them for being a perspective nightmare to paint.
Plein air oil painting of East Darling Harbour Wharves, Sydney Harbour and REVY, Darling Island in Pyrmont  painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett


 







 
P12B REVY 3 from Jones Bay Wharf with 'Nederburg'
1990 oil on canvas 25 x 51 cm
SOLD
Enquiries about other paintings of Darling Island

Revy's original purpose became obsolete due to the increasing size of cargo ships and the introduction of container shipping.
The painting above shows the 'Nederburg' one of the last cargo ships docking at the Pier 19/20/21 (now known as Jones Bay Wharf) opposite Revy C.
During the 1980s REVY C was remodelled for the Defence Science and Technology Organization.
Plein air oil painting of East Darling Harbour Wharves, Sydney Harbour and REVY, Darling Island in Pyrmont  painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett














P12 REVY from Jones Bay Road
1990 oil on paper 25.5 x 31 cm

Available for sale
This small oil study shows the timber yard on the other side to the previous painting.
In 1994, REVY A and B were renovated for Naval Support Command , and I was commissioned to paint 3 huge paintings for their foyer.
They could be seen from Jones Bay Road until 2005 when Channel 7 moved in. Now these paintings are on Spectacle Island, where unfortunately they can't be seen by the public.
REVY C was vacant from 2005 until its recent redevelopment for apartments.
 
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Thursday 29 November 2012

Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free

Recently I have been painting yet another magnificent ruin from the notorious Wakil collection of derelict buildings.
The Wakils, who also own the Terminus Hotel and the old milkbar on the corner of John and Harris Street seem to be obsessed with playing a 30 year long game of Monopoly...with real buildings.
This is the Darling Island Bond and Free Store at 12 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont.
My first drawings and paintings of this building date from nearly 30 years ago, and the changes are almost imperceptible. On the southern side, windows were cut into the brickwork during the 1980s. The plane trees have grown so that they obscure my view of the row of charming 1880s terraces next door. The residents of 14 Pyrmont St had planted ivy which crept up the wall, but later they cut the ivy and it died off before it could continue its conquest.
Otherwise it is as though I have been sent back in the Tardis to the Pyrmont of the 1980s.

Plein air oil painting of abandoned derelict 'Darling Island Bond and Free' warehouse, Pyrmont st Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting "Darling Island Bond and Free"
en plein air, in front of 27 Pyrmont Street
Sold
Enquiries

Originally this bond store was home of "Australian Thermite Company Pty Ltd" and must have been built either just before the First World War or during its first few months.
As far as I know, the cutting for the Pyrmont Goods Line which curves around the north of this building dates from about 1911-14 (?) so the Bond store would have been built around then. It also has a faint whiff of the utilitarian 'Federation Free' style architecture seen in other red brick storehouses around the Pyrmont peninsula such as the Royal Edward Victualling Yards.


Plein air oil painting of abandoned derelict 'Darling Island Bond and Free' warehouse, Pyrmont st Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
My painting of "Darling Island Bond and Free"
2012 oil on canvas 61 x 51cm
on my french box easel, in Pyrmont Street
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Thermite is a mix of aluminium oxide and another metal oxide (usually iron).
It was used for welding in-place of thick steel sections such as locomotive axle-frames so that the repair can take place without removing the part from where it has been installed.
Plein air oil painting of abandoned derelict 'Darling Island Bond and Free' warehouse, Pyrmont st Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Darling Island Bond and Free"
2012 oil on canvas 61 x 51cm
Sold
Enquiries

A thermite weld is spectacular.
Molten metal drops into the mould in a blinding flash.
The still glowing edges are trimmed still glowing and then polished until you can't see the join with the steel rail on either side.
It is a very traditional work process, first patented in the 1890s, but it would still have been the last word in modern technology when 12 Pyrmont Street was first built.
Plein air oil painting of abandoned derelict 'Darling Island Bond and Free' warehouse, Pyrmont st Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting 12 Pyrmont st,
from Jones Bay Road 27-12-2012
Enquiries
Rail under stress can easily buckle.
Thermite can be used for quickly cutting or welding steel such as rail tracks, without requiring complex or heavy equipment.
However, thermite welding must be done carefully as defects are often present in such welded junctions.
Also the rails must remain straight, without dipped joints, which can cause wear on high speed and heavy axle load lines.

Plein air oil painting of abandoned derelict 'Darling Island Bond and Free' warehouse, Pyrmont st Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P271 'Darling Island Bond and Free,
12 Pyrmont street' 2013
oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Available

Thermite is not technically classed as an explosive, however anyone who's watched a certain early episode of 'Breaking Bad' will appreciate its force and effectiveness!
Back in those days living next door to a Bond store full of thermite would definitely have qualified as living "on the wrong side of the tracks".
Plein air oil painting of abandoned derelict 'Darling Island Bond and Free' warehouse, Pyrmont st Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting 12 Pyrmont st,
from Jones Bay Road 27-12-2012

I'm not sure when the "Australian Thermite Company" building became the "Darling Island Bond and Free".
It must have been at least a couple of decades after its construction, as I have seen some unfortunately undated photos which must have been taken after 1916, but before 1948, as they show the empty yard to the east of the original 1904 Power Station building before the second power station was completed in 1951.
The faded letters "Darling Island Bond and Free" can still be just made out on the south and east side of the building.
Plein air oil painting of abandoned derelict 'Darling Island Bond and Free' warehouse, Pyrmont st Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting 12 Pyrmont st,
from Jones Bay Road 27-12-2012

I'd like to thank the people who took photos of me while I was painting and sent them to me. Unfortunately their emails bounced and they used nicknames so I don't know how to personally credit them, but I'm grateful as I was far too hot and tired to cross the street to take photos.
I'd also like to thank the occupants of number 14 Pyrmont Street for reviving me with kindness and their excellent coffee while I was painting on an extremely hot day.
I displayed this painting in the Xmas exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery
The opening was on Saturday 1st December 2012, from 5-7pm.
The exhibition continued until 31st December 2012
FRANCES KEEVIL GALLERY,
Bay Village, 28-34 Cross Street Double Bay, NSW 2028
Hours M-F 10am-5pm Sat 10 - 4pm Sun 11-4pm
ph/fax: 02 93272475 mob: 0411 821550
info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au
Page of Jane Bennett paintings

For more information see My Pyrmont page in this blog


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Thursday 1 March 2012

The slow return from the fire

On the ATP Open Day I had to be in 3 places at once.
I was to exhibit my paintings of Eveleigh in the Exhibition Hall and simultaneously paint while the blacksmiths of Wrought Artworks gave their forging demonstrations.
I would be displaying 38 paintings on 20 easels in the Exhibition Hall.This included 2 works on paper framed under glass, that were so large that they could only just be crammed into my station wagon. Some of the paintings were from my home in the north-western suburbs and some at the Frances Keevil Gallery in Double Bay.
In addition to this, I was exhibiting another 8 paintings of the blacksmiths in Bay 1/2, as well as some large half finished canvases. I also needed to bring my French box easel, palette and paint so that I could give the onlookers an insight into the process of painting from life.
The 20 easels required a separate journey, as I have learnt the hard way that trying to transport paintings and easels in the one trip always ends in tears.   Unfortunately all of the deliveries and all the setting up of the exhibition had to be on Friday, the day before, so this resulted in 5 trips.

Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
With my team of helpers,
Ron, Fay and Tony!
On the Open Day I was helped by the directors of the Frances Keevil Gallery, Frances Keevil and Lynn Westacott, who both came along to look after the exhibition and stayed to pack up and deliver works back to the gallery.
I also received a great deal of help from a most unexpected source. A couple of weeks before, I had been invited to talk about my work at the inner-western Sydney branch of Rotary. Despite my total cluelessness about Powerpoint ( I managed to disconnect my laptop, but I fortunately had brought some canvases with me in case I messed up the technology), I must have done something right. Fay Thurlow, Ron Bottrill and Tony Bastow from Rotary all turned up, full of enthusiasm and energy.
I was so grateful for this as it freed me to be able to paint as well as exhibit my work.
I think the relief and gratitude showed in my face as I painted!
Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
This shows me starting a medium size canvas of the
blacksmiths hand forging and hammering. 
Chris Sulis, dreadlocks flying, is a whirl of action in the background.


The blacksmith in the background is Chris Sulis, who is also the subject of the very large half finished canvas displayed next to me in the photo below.

Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
Art and life. 
I'm starting a canvas of Chris hand forging,
next to my giant canvas portrait of
Chris forging chisels on the Massey steam hammer.

Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
No makeup, no sleep for 2 days, no breakfast and totally knackered!
But finally all the hard work of preparation is over
and I can relax and get back to painting.
 On my easel is the start of my painting of one of the furnaces,
while on my table is a quick study of the master blacksmith,
Guido Gouvernor, hammering.



I quickly started the largest spare canvas that I had. As well as giving the onlookers something to see, it helps just to break the ice. It's important for me to start quickly - to get something on the canvas even if I later paint out every mark I make. If I sit there deliberating too long I can get paralysed with fear that I will make the wrong brushstroke and make a fool of myself in public. There is no time for fear or second thoughts on a day like this.
I have to make every moment count. I make cryptic scribbly marks in paint on a dozen small canvases at my feet, as I try to commit the nonchalant balletic grace of the blacksmiths to memory. They are swift and economical with their movements, as only men who are waving around large pieces of red hot metal in a confined space can be.
 Their gestures sometimes bring to mind echoes of half forgotten classical poses from art history. The tense crouch of quenching a chisel in a trough is briefly transformed into the stance of a Roman about to spear a dying Gaul.
Although their movements are swift, once I pick up the rhythm and sequence of their routine I can isolate gestures that will make interesting paintings
The blacksmiths rarely fire their furnaces now. Most of their work involves welding rather than traditional blacksmithing techniques. This is as much a treat for them as it is for their audience.
There were 2 locations to paint on the Open Day. At the northern end of the Blacksmith's enclosure, Guido and Chris had lit a furnace for a more or less continuous demonstration of hand forging and hammering techniques. About every 2 hours they would open the gates to let people in for the spectacular steam hammer forging sessions. I would then carefully balance my brushes on my palette and scamper past the barriers just in time to set up. I spent all day running from one site to the other in a sort of mad artistic relay race. 
I find painting in these circumstances exhilarating, as much sport as art.

Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
This was painted during the first steam hammer forging demonstration. 
I have just started a small canvas of the master blacksmith,
Guido Gouvernor with Chris Sulis at the Massey steam hammer.
Guido (wearing a festive pair of red earmuffs) is in the foreground.
Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
This shows the same canvas
after the next forging demonstration.
I have painted in the face and arms of Chris,
who is holding the object being forged.

In the afternoon, I visited my exhibition in Bay 12, and was very impressed with the way that it had been arranged by my friends.

exhibition of paintings by Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
Some visitors in front of my painting of the 
"BHP Goods Yard, Newcastle" 1998.


exhibition of paintings by Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
A young train buff taking photos
of my paintings of the lamp trikes
of the Paint Shop of North Eveleigh.

One of the features of the Open Day was the inaugural Eveleigh Film Festival.
The photo below shows two of the heroes of my favourite railway film "Darling Island Shunters".
Darling Island  was ending its days a a working goods yard, just as I was starting to be serious about my project of painting Pyrmont.
I'm so glad that I had included a tiny little painting of the Darling Island Goods Yard which I had painted in the 1980s, and a book of photos of my other paintings of Pyrmont. 
They also used to ride the ancient lamp trikes that I had painted in the canvases behind them.
exhibition of paintings by Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist at the Australian Technology Park Open Day, Eveleigh
"Darling Island Shunters"

   I have just read Julie's wonderful post about the Open Day Singing the body electric.The Walt Whitman poem chosen to accompany her photos has always been one of my favourite pieces of writing. It manages to put into words the feelings that I have when I paint far better than I ever could.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

My exhibition at the Sydney Open

An Architectural Adventure
presented by the Historic Houses Trust
My paintings will be on exhibition at several venues during the Sydney Open, a biennial event presented by Historic Houses Trust that showcases Sydney’s architectural icons.
On display for one day only on Sunday 7th November 2010
A Blast from the Past at Workplace6
I will exhibit some of my early Pyrmont paintings at Workplace6, Pirrama Road opposite Star City Casino.
I painted in Pyrmont from the early 1980's until now. These paintings show how far Pyrmont has come since its dark days as an industrial wasteland.
I have witnessed many historic moments in Pyrmont’s metamorphosis. The site of Workplace6 was then occupied by Pier 13, where so many immigrants first set foot on Australian soil. One of the paintings of Pyrmont in the early 1990's, a 'bird's eye view' painted from the rooftop of the old Pyrmont Power Station, ( now replaced by the Star City Casino) shows a big red ship in the background - the now notorious 'Tampa'!
 I have already sampled the delights of Workplace6, as I was invited to the opening of Paul Signorelli's new foodie haven 'Gastronomia' as a member of PUCC, the Pyrmont Ultimo Chamber of Commerce.
Pyrmont has certainly changed - I used to have to take my own lunch for a start! The pubs were then a 'no go' area for anyone who wasn’t looking for hard core trouble! I only experienced the odd bit of bother from the local larrikins, and as the locals got used to having an 'Artist in Residence' they would even keep an eye on my belongings and drag my paintings under cover for me if it started to rain. I felt as though I had been adopted as an honorary resident! I used to leave all my stuff lying around in the middle of Jones Bay Road (now called 'Pirrama Road) - there were few cars and the only strangers were from the cruise ships that still docked at Pier 13.
My paintings are a narrative of the abandonment, decay, destruction and reconstruction of an inner-city landscape – a metaphor for deeper changes within Australia. The mood has changed forever, and only my works remain as testament to the passing of an era.
Plein air mixed media drawing of Pyrmont Goods Yard from the roof of Pyrmont Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P112   Pyrmont Goods Yard from
top of Pyrmont Power Station 
1991  ink on paper105  x131cm
Available



















Pyrmont Goods Yard, Darling Island and Pier 13 from the roof of Pyrmont Power Station. The old Pyrmont/Darling Island goods line has only just ceased operations and the gleaming white Australian National Maritime Museum has only just been built. Cruise ships still docked at Pier 13.
The cluster of sheds under the land bridge to Pier 13 were old signal boxes later refurbished to be sets for the filming of the flamenco scenes of the iconic Baz Luhrman film 'Strictly Ballroom'.
The East Darling Harbour Wharves, often known as the 'Hungry Mile' and now re-christened 'Barangaroo') are in the background.
 
Plein air oil painting from the roof of the Pyrmont Power Station painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Construction of Star City Casino
from the top of Pyrmont Power Station' 1996
oil painting on board 40 x 89cm
Available
The long narrow building on the left, Pier 13, was once connected to Jones Bay Road by a land bridge.
Then Pier 13 became the temporary casino, painted bright yellow and the land bridge was demolished. Jones Bay Road has since been renamed Pirrama Road and now leads to the steps of Star City Casino, which is now being extensively renovated.
Workplace6 now occupies the site where Pier 13 once stood.
The brilliantly coloured ships in the background are painted to scale; they were so immense that they towered over the buildings. One of the great delights of painting in Pyrmont used to be watching the ebb and flow of ships–sturdy ferries chugging past, enormous cargo ships and majestic tankers.
I will also be exhibiting some of my Barangaroo paintings at '30 The Bond', the LendLease headquarters as part of the 'Sydney Open' on Sunday 7th November 2010 from 9.30-5pm.


Related posts
 2014 solo exhibition "Under the Hammer"
2011 solo exhibition "May close without warning"
Barangaroo : Red Square, the Drill Rig and a little archaeology