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 Port Botany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Port Botany. Show all posts

Friday 19 June 2015

The triumph of the machines


In early April 2015 I was asked to paint some of the last manual port movements at the Patrick terminal in Port Botany.
Now the containers are still being unloaded by port workers, but automated straddle cranes stack the containers onto trucks, replacing many port workers.
I was permitted to paint and set up my easel a week before the April change-over.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

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My viewpoint was from a narrow balcony above a 2 storey gatehouse.
On the ground floor was the First Aid room, while on the top floor, port workers facing redundancy were receiving career advice.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

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From my vantage point I could see the yard being prepared for the new automated system.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm
oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries



















In the centre, concrete barriers were arranged in grids to separate the trucks from the construction.
To the right, the giant stacks of containers were removed, leaving an eerily empty yard.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries
To the left is the new observation tower, as yet unmanned, where the new Autostrads will be controlled by radar.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries 

















At night it looked desolate and lonely. 
As the new driverless vehicles are remotely controlled, there won't be the same requirement for lighting the yard.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting the giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
75 x 100cm oil on canvas 2015

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At the moment, the giant straddle cranes are still operating with drivers.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting the giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
75 x 100cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries 
One day the giant straddle cranes and even the trucks may become driverless.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Paintings of Port Botany
Left to right: the giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
75 x 100cm oil on canvas 2015

 giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
100 x 75cm oil on canvas 2015

Night panorama straddle cranes  Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

 Port Botany panorama 31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries
I know that it's all in the name of efficiency, but when I left, it looked like a ghost town.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Night,containers,  Port Botany 25 x 31cm oil on canvas 2015
Night, Port Botany panorama 20 x 40cm oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries
As the last ship before the changeover was unloaded, a line formed of the old straddle cranes which were due to be scrapped soon after.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Night,containers, Port Botany
25 x 31cm oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries
 Ominously, while I was painting in my temporary gatehouse studio, I had met some of the same people both delivering and receiving career advice 7 years earlier when the East Darling Harbour Wharves  closed down to become Barangaroo.

plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
PB2 'Anatoma, Port Botany' 2015 oil on canvas 28 x 36cm
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A few weeks after my stint as 'Artist in Residence' at Port Botany, some of the port workers who had received redundancy, were called back to work when some of the robots malfunctioned and dropped a few containers in the water!

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Friday 15 April 2011

Ghost ship - ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe - Part 2

HMAS Adelaide was decommissioned in 2008 and prepared for scuttling as a dive wreck during late 2009 and early 2010.
Her mast was removed, dangerous materials and toxins were removed, and access holes were cut in the ship's flanks.
She was originally intended to be sunk on 27 March 2010, 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) offshore from Avoca Beach, in 32 metres (105 ft) of water.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"The ex-HMAS Adelaide on Glebe Island wharf" 2010
oil on canvas 30 x 61 cm
Sold

By late 2009 the Baulderstone group had left the northern end of Glebe Island, leaving it clear for the ex- HMAS Adelaide.
At the southern end, the 'Thor Kis' arrived with cable which would later be laid under Port Botany.
McMahons Services started preparing the ex-HMAS Adelaide for scuttling, which was then earmarked for March 27th 2010.
Plein air oil Painting of salt truck and Thevenard from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
'Salt Truck at Glebe, with the 'Thevenard'
2010 oil on canvas
15 x 30cm
Sold

I painted some other interesting visitors to the wharf.
In this painting you can see the ex- HMAS Adelaide lurking in the background behind a giant mound of salt being poured on the wharf from the salt ship 'CSL Thevenard'. This salt was then loaded into trucks and driven down to chemical plants at Port Botany.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting the 'Adelaide' on the wharf
Available
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting the 'Adelaide' on the wharf
Available 
These 2 photos show me at work on the painting shown below. This large canvas, 61 x 183cm, really pushed the boundaries of what is physically possible in plein air painting.
When it became windy I would have to lie the canvas flat on the ground, or I would end up chasing it and my easel all over the wharf.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
My easel and palette - gone with the wind !
Painting Ex-HMAS Adelaide at
Glebe Island wharf en plein air

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe Island wharf -
plein air oil painting
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
Available

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"The ex-HMAS Adelaide on Glebe Island wharf"
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 183 cm

Available 
On the right hand side of this painting is the OES Barge. This finally left Glebe Island wharf for White Bay in June 2010, 1 day before leaving Sydney Harbour to lay cables under Botany Bay.
I had rushed to complete this, as some of the people on the wharf were quite interested in acquiring a work. I needn't have hurried, as a literally last minute decision pulled the plug on the scuttling.
Over a year of apparently interminable rolling legal action ensued before the end of the saga.
An appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by a local and vocal
protest group 3 days before the sinking saw the project placed on hold until the case can be heard in full.
The case was originally to have been heard on 5 May, but was then postponed to July.
Finally the federal judge, Justice Garry Downes, president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, approved the project but imposed stringent new conditions.
His decision ended a legal battle which had lasted almost six months. On 15 September, the Tribunal ruled that the scuttling of the ship could go ahead after the removal of any remaining wiring, canvas, insulation, and exfoliating red lead paint.
The delays caused by the tribunal hearing meant that instead of costing the original $5.8 million assigned to the scuttling project, the tribunal hearing, additional cleanup, and berthing fees brought the total cost to $8.5 million.
The ship was still there, looking a little forlorn until the dawn of April 11th when it embarked on its final triumphant journey to its final resting spot off North Avoca.

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide and tugs from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"Ex HMAS Adelaide departing Glebe Island at dawn"
2011 oil on canvas 112 x 183cm
Available 
Her last journey, accompanied by the 'Woona'. The other tug was hidden by the bulk of the ship.
I met up with her again in Terrigal, a couple of days before the sinking and painted her last moments before her new life as an artificial reef.
There was a dramatic viewpoint of her from a rocky cove beneath the imposing "Skillion".

'Ex HMAS Adelaide from the 'Skillion' at sunset '2011
oil on canvas 15 x 30cm sold
PRIVATE COLLECTION : TERRIGAL

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"Ex HMAS Adelaide from the 'Skillion' the next morning"
2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm

Available
I also painted her from a lookout next to the surf club at North Avoca Beach.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"Ex HMAS Adelaide from North Avoca" 2011
oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

Available 
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 13th April 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting "Ex HMAS Adelaide from North Avoca" 2011
oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Available

Ex HMAS Adelaide was finally successfully sunk at midday on Wednesday April 13th. As if all the previous nail biting suspense hadn't been enough, there was over an hour long wait for an inquisitive pod of dolphins to move out of the area.
I watched and sketched its final moments above water barely 300 metres away from Andrew MacMahon's huge white boat "Strictly Business, which you can see in the distance in the painting below.
The next day I painted the same spot where the ship had been from the same vantage point next to the Skillion.

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 13th April 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting the Adelaide from North Avoca 13th April 2011
''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal
(Adelaide underwater) '
oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Available 
For a long time it had seemed as though the ship would remain in limbo.
All the drama was worth it in the end.
It has succeeded as an artificial reef beyond the wildest dreams of its creators.
Recently I was painting a commission at Chowder Bay, Clifton Gardens, which is the headquarters of SIMS, the Sydney Harbour Institute of Marine Science. The marine scientists raved for hours about the wonderful diversity and abundance of marine species newly inhabiting the artificial reef.

Related Posts

Ghost ship - ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe - Part 1




See my Hungry Mile page in this blog

For more paintings and information about the ex-HMAS Adelaide:

See my White Bay Wharf / Glebe island Wharf page in this blog

Monday 10 January 2011

Tugs, barges and Tall ships - Glebe Island, Jackson's Landing and White Bay

tug ''Edi' at Glebe Island Wharf opposite Jacksons Landing Pyrmont oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'The tug 'Edi' and the OES barge at Glebe Island wharf'
 2010 oil painting on canvas 31 x 41cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings




















This tug escorted the OES barge to White Bay and then to Port Botany, where it is laying cables.
This canvas was painted at Glebe Island wharf, opposite LendLease's Jackson's Landing Development. In the background the yellow column of one of their apartment blocks pokes up like an impudent finger. There is an equally lairy lime green apartment block further down the road to match - their not entirely endearing local nicknames are the 'Lemon' and the 'Gherkin' respectively. Jackson's Landing was built on the site of the CSR Refinery and Distillery, which had operated on the north-western end of the Pyrmont Peninsula for over a century. A relic of these times, known as the 'Cooperage' can be seen directly in front of its fluorescent new neighbour.
tug ''Edi'  and OES barge at Glebe Island Wharf from Jacksons Landing Pyrmont oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'The OES Barge with the tug 'Edi' at Glebe Island from the park at Jacksons Landing, Pyrmont''
oil painting on canvas 25 x 31 cm
SOLD

Enquiries about similar paintings
The view from across the ditch.
This evening study of the barge and tug is painted from the park in front of the 'Cooperage' at Jackson's Landing.
tug ''Edi'  and OES barge at Glebe Island Wharf opposite Jacksons Landing Pyrmont oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'Dawn -The tug 'Edi' at Glebe Island wharf '
2010 oil painting on canvas 25 x 51cm
SOLD

Enquiries about similar paintings
Sunrise, with the tug docked in front of the Anzac Bridge. 
The grey apartment block in front of its eastern pylon, catching reflections of the rose pink dawn clouds, is the strangely named 'evolve' building. I hate buildings with verbs for names - especially in the imperative case. It sounds like a command - both patronising and presumptuous. 'Into what?' is the unspoken question.
The crew of the tug and the barge are making preparations for the departure to White Bay, and then, just as the song goes, they are bound for Botany Bay.
tug ''Edi' and 'Southern Swan' at White Bay Wharf  oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
G45 'The tug 'Edi' with the 'Southern Swan' at White Bay'

2010 oil on canvas 31 x 25cm