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 Pyrmont Power Station. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pyrmont Power Station. Show all posts

Friday 3 July 2020

Black cat of Union Square

Are black cats lucky?
People seem to be equally divided into those who think its lucky to have a black cat cross their path, and those who think it's very unlucky.
I feel this cat was a lucky omen for this particular nook of Pyrmont.
Union Square, in contrast to many other parts of Pyrmont, had kept much of its original character. Unlike many other inner city neighbourhoods, this one has so far dodged the relentless rollout of Westconnex and other highways and tollways that has blitzed several other nearby suburbs on the fringe of the city.
In 2009, the NSW Government's proposal for a Metro entrance in the charming historical precinct of Union Square had threatened to obliterate one of the last remaining vestiges of Pyrmont's heritage. But times and governments change, and the whole project was cancelled in 2010. The vaguely Parisian atmosphere of Union Square remains a charming contrast to the bloated pomposity of the Star Casino only a block away. 
Plein air oil painting of panorama of Union Square Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P277 Union Square Terraces + Paternoster Row
2011 oil on canvas  31 x 103cm

One of the many joys of plein air painting is that the time that I have to spend looking at my subject reveals tiny details lost to a more casual observer.
On the corner of Union st and Paternoster Row there is a faded and clumsily drawn painting of an almost headless black cat, which goes mostly unnoticed by the passing cyclists. It fascinates me that this cryptic little fragment has somehow escaped being scraped off or obliterated with a schmick new paint job.
It was painted by an eccentric street artist Bruno Dutot some time between about 1989 and 1991 before the arrival of a more strident fashion in graffiti from New York a few years later.
Plein air oil painting of panorama of Union Square Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P277 Detail of cat painted on wall-
Union Square Terraces + Paternoster Row
2011  oil on canvas  31 x 103cm
Available




















This fragment of a cat once had a very soigne companion, painted in a style reminiscent of Erte, but in an endearingly amateur fashion. She was a slender, highly stylized and stylish woman called rather weirdly, "Oucha", and versions of this image cropped up all over the inner city in her heyday of the late 1980s - 1990s.
I remember passing her strangely elongated image on the corner of Union Square and Paternoster Row, back in the days when Union Square had two-way traffic and was a shortcut to the Fishmarkets and Glebe.
Plein air oil painting of panorama of Union Square Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P274 Union Square Terraces 4 -
a little piece of Paris in Pyrmont
 2010 oil on canvas  31 x 61cm
Available















The painting above shows Union Square from Paternoster Row down to Pyrmont Street. It was painted in 2010, just before the cancellation of the Metro plans had been made public.
Back then, the chimneys of the Pyrmont Power Station loomed over the terraces of Union Square instead of the equally monolithic Casino. The 'Harlequin Inn' which can be seen to the right of this canvas, on the corner of Union Square and Harris Street, was then the more down at heel 'Duke of Wellington' and boasted a huge and incongruous cartwheel as a wall feature. The two way road has been transformed into a one way lane with a large pedestrian area circling the "Angel of Union Square", with seating and odd sandstone 'mushrooms' (actually part of the balustrade salvaged long ago from the now pedestrianized Pyrmont Bridge) But, essentially, very little has changed in Union Square since the 1980s.
Plein air oil painting of Pyrmont Post Office and the Pyrmont War Memorial Union Square Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P242 Pyrmont Post Office
1993 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Available

















The painting above was painted in the early 1990s from the other end of Union Square, and shows the intersection of Union Square and Miller Street as a two-way street before it became a plaza. The "Angel of Union Square" is in the centre and behind her is the Commonwealth Bank painted a particularly horrid shade of "Paddington Pink". On the extreme right is a corner of the "Duke of Wellington" Hotel, and on the right is the golden sandstone archway of the Walter Liberty Vernon designed Pyrmont Post Office.
The last example of "Oucha" that I know of, can still be seen on a corner of Edgecliff road on the left hand side travelling from the city towards Edgecliff. She is occasionally repainted, possibly even by the original artist, and sometimes decorated with glitter.
She and her cat are relics of a less worldly age.
The wall above the cat has an obvious tidemark where "Oucha" has been painted over with more enthusiasm than skill and it remains distinctly two-toned.
Plein air oil painting of Pyrmont war Memorial "Angel Of Union Square"of Union Square Pyrmont by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P276 Angel of Union Square
2010 oil on wood 23 x 12cm
Available





















The lovely First World War monument known locally as the "Angel of Union Square" seems to have had a protective effect over her square, acting as a shield against marauding developers.
But I like to think of the little faded and forgotten black cat as her mascot.

See more paintings of Union Square at the Pyrmont page in my blog

Related Posts


Saturday 22 March 2014

From the Tampa to Strictly Ballroom

I'll write a few posts about some of the paintings on display at my exhibition of Pyrmont paintings in the members lounge of the Australian National Maritime Museum.
The first two paintings on the left hand wall of the room as you enter, were both painted from the roof of the half demolished Pyrmont Power Station a couple of years apart. I was very pleased that I was able to place these together so that viewers can understand the stages of development of this area of Pyrmont.
Pyrmont painting-plein air oil painting of Pyrmont in the  Australian National Maritime Museum. by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P103 "From the roof of Pyrmont Power Station" 
1994 oil/canvas 92 x 122 cm 

I was "Artist in Residence" at the Pyrmont Power Station for over a decade. At the time of painting these 2 works, it was partially demolished, yet still functional, and served the western side of the CBD as a source for power and lighting. It has now been replaced by Star City Casino.
The rhythmic sweeping lines curving under the bridge are remnants of the old Pyrmont goods line.This was once part of the former Metropolitan Goods Line. There was a goods line from Darling Harbour to Central that had been in existence from about 1856, but a loop line that completed a circuitous route of the inner suburbs became necessary when heavy industry expanded in the early 20th century. Diverging at Dulwich Hill it headed north beneath the Main Suburban line at Summer Hill to Lilyfield before heading east to Rozelle and Pyrmont, and then south under Railway Square through NSW's oldest tunnel to join the Main Suburban line outside Central. This line served the ports at Glebe Island (diverging via a spur from Lilyfield) and Darling Harbour and was approved on 23 November 1914, and the line was finally opened on 23 January 1922. The Darling Island/Darling Harbour section had 19km of track.
The John Street tunnel, a 124m double-track tunnel cut deep into the sandstone under Pyrmont Point, is still in use for the light rail.
During the 1970s and 1980s Darling Harbour traffic reduced considerably and the yards officially closed in October 1984. At vast expense, this goods line was torn up in June 1993 and replaced by the dubious benefit of light rail. Much of the trackbed was used for the light rail that opened to Wentworth Park in August 1997 and extended to Lilyfield in August 2000.
The pile of rubble in the centre marks where an old signal box in the Pyrmont Goods Yard had been just demolished. It was immortalized as the “Spanish café” in Baz Luhrmann's 1992 classic film “Strictly Ballroom”. One person’s eyesore is another’s urban icon.
The brilliant vermilion ship was the “MV Tampa”! It wasn’t notorious then!
The “Tampa” was an early Mark 1 “ConRo” ( roll-on/roll-off container ship) completed in 1984 by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. in South Korea for the Norway based firm, then known as the “Barber Line” and later the “Wallenius Wilhelmsen Line”. It was extensively refurbished and another deck added before it was involved in the controversial event in August 2001 known afterwards as the "Tampa affair".
That wasn't the last scandal involving the MV Tampa.
In October 2006, MV Tampa was one of two Wilhelmsen ships involved in a cocaine-smuggling operation intercepted by the New Zealand Customs Service and the Australian Federal Police. Allegedly 27 kilograms of cocaine had been attached in purpose-built metal pods to the side of the 2 cargo ships bound for Australia. However the New Zealand authorities stated they did not believe the ship's crew or owners were involved.
At the time of this painting Jones Bay Road continued up to the land bridge which then bisected Darling Island and looped around the lower level of Darling Island
All of Jones Bay Road has since been renamed Pirrama Road except for a strange little stub of a street opposite Star Casino. Jones Bay Road used to loop around the whole peninsula, but now the entire street is only about 100 metres long, stretching from the Australian Thermite building ("Darling Island Bond and Free") on the corner at 12 Pyrmont Street, to an apartment block and the 2SM building on the corner of the escarpment.
Pyrmont painting-plein air oil painting of Pyrmont in the  Australian National Maritime Museum. by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
P214 "Sydney Harbour from the top of the Pyrmont Power Station(building Star Casino)"
1997 oil/board 40 x 89 cm 
In the early 1980s,when I first started to paint in Pyrmont, the brick building on the right hand side of this painting was the site of Pier 13, where so many immigrants first set foot on Australian soil. Pier 13 was still connected to Jones Bay Road by a land bridge. By the date of this painting, Pier 13 had been painted a gob-smackingly hideous shade of yellow and became first a dodgy carpet shop and later the equally dodgy temporary casino. As you can see, the land bridge has by now been demolished.
Pier 13 has since been replaced by 'Workplace 6', home of 'Google' and Paul Signorelli's restaurants 'Gastronomia' and 'Biaggio'.
The empty space in the centre of Darling Island has since been filled with offices and apartments, which ironically have been given wharf-like styling. Most of the real wharves had been demolished in the 1980s-1990s.

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Artist in Residence at the White Bay Power Station

Plein air oil painting of the back of the White Bay Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a new canvas on the site of the
now demolished Boiler House 2,
White Bay Power Station, Rozelle, Sydney, NSW



















Back in the 1980's, I painted the White Bay Power Station while it was still operational.
In the 1990's, while the Pyrmont Power Station and Balmain Power Station were in the process of being demolished, I returned to the area to paint the Unilever site, the White Bay Hotel and the Goods Yard. While the Anzac Bridge was being constructed, I painted birds-eye views of the site from the summit of the western pylon. In 2000, the ownership of the site passed from Pacific Power to the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA). From 2002 - 2004 I painted exterior views of the Boiler House and monumental interiors of the Turbine Hall, one of which was acquired by the Mitchell Library, State Library of N.S.W. for their collection.
From 2008 I have been painting this magnificent relic from the wharves of Glebe Island and White Bay.
Now I've returned to the site itself as 'Artist in Residence'.
Plein air oil painting of the back of the White Bay Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a new canvas on the site of the
now demolished Boiler House 2,
White Bay Power Station, Rozelle, Sydney, NSW

The bright red belongs to some containers which are full of debris from some of SHFA's other sites. Bizarrely, one of these containers has been decorated with paintings of butterflies.

Plein air oil painting of the back of the White Bay Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a new canvas on the site of the
now demolished Boiler House 2,
White Bay Power Station, Rozelle, Sydney, NSW



















This canvas was painted close to the railway corridor next to the old ash handling yard to the south east of the site.
I have chosen to explore the slightly less glamorous aspect of the site as the first paintings of my long awaited return to the site, rather than the all too familiar view from Mullens Street.
Every half baked photographer and his dog has an image or two of the iconic chimney stacks from the northern Balmain side. This is scarcely a challenge - far too easy. I know this building very well, inside and out, and have painted it and the surrounding area over the past 3 decades.
My paintings show the White Bay Power Station's subtler charms.
Plein air oil painting of the back of the White Bay Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a new canvas on the site of the
now demolished Boiler House 2,
White Bay Power Station, Rozelle, Sydney, NSW























In the foreground is the space where the 2nd Boiler House, built on the southern side in 1927, and demolished from 1975-1976.
Now this space is used for leftover debris from the clearing of Ballast Point, a former Caltex fuel depot, now a public park. I remember painting some of these relics on location at Ballast Point before its transformation in 2004-5.

Plein air oil painting of the back of the White Bay Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a new canvas on the site of the
now demolished Boiler House 2,
White Bay Power Station, Rozelle, Sydney, NSW


The imposing facade, even from the back has a stern grandeur and dignity found in castles and forts.
The dramatic shadow cast by this monolith is occasionally broken by glints of sunlight that touch weeds now infesting the vacant upper south yard, once home to the White Bay Hotel which finally succumbed to a mysterious fire in 2009.




Plein air oil painting of the back of the White Bay Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett

"White Bay Power Station from the back 1" 2011
oil on canvas 46 x 61cm
Available for sale






Plein air oil painting of the back of the White Bay Power Station by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"White Bay Power Station from the back 2" 2011
oil on canvas 46 x 61cm
Available for sale







































Also see my page in this blog :


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Rust Bucket

Thursday 24 March 2011

UPtown Festival 2011

The 30th Pyrmont Ultimo Festival
Saturday 19th March 2011
The industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett exhibiting her Pyrmont paintings at the 2011 Pyrmont Festival
The Pyrmont- Ultimo UPtown Festival 2011
Photo is courtesy of Jeffrey Mellefont,
Australian National Maritime Museum.

Quarry Green is a charming little park between Quarry St and Bulwara Road behind Harris St Ultimo. Its most famous landmarks are the church and tne pub, which lie close to the border between Pyrmont and Ultimo.
The festival began modestly thirty years ago, when it was started by two enterprising local residents, Debra Berryman and Olga Reader, as a simple get-together to unite the small local community. Since then, year by year, the UPTown Festival has witnessed the Ultimo Pyrmont precinct’s remarkable re-birth and transformation from a quiet, post-industrial area in the early 1980’s, with a population of under 2000, to today’s thriving business, media and education centre, with a dynamic, multi-ethnic community of around 20,000.
I had displayed some of my many paintings of Pyrmont and Ultimo in previous UPtown festivals, but always inside the church hall which made them difficult to see. This time I was given a large tent and a prime position outside the local community's favourite watering hole, the Lord Wolseley. This delightful old pub, at the northern end of Quarry Green on Bulwara Road, is one of the narrowest in Sydney, but makes up for that in 'character'. Its interior boasts a bullet hole left in the pub mirror by Neddy Smith, who had rather shakily aimed at the bartender during the 1980's gangland wars. Those were the days!
Despite the heavy rain the festival drew a large crowd-the organizers estimated that there were over 4,000 people attending. I caught up with lots of people I hadn't seen for years and met many new residents who were interested to see what their suburb used to look like.The tent sheltered my 40 paintings and 2 large drawings, attached with cable ties to the 14 easels I had again borrowed from my long suffering mate John from the Australian Society of Marine Artists. Lots of people helped me lug the easels from the Mustard Seed Centre where they were stored.
The paintings in this photo are some of my more recent Pyrmont artworks. In the foreground is the "Carpentaria and the James Craig" from just outside Wharf 7, and above it are 2 views of Jacksons Landing from Glebe Island Wharf and a painting of Pyrmont from the East Darling Harbour Wharves.

For more information see My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related posts
Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont
To the Point
Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free
Pyrmont Paintings past and present
Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2 

Not the Writers Festival- Exhibition of Pyrmont Paintings by Jane Bennett at 2013 Pyrmont Festival
We like sheep - Waite and Bull Building 137 Pyrmont Street
Marine art exhibition at Australian National Maritime Museum
Pyrmont Sandstone - The Lizards of Oz

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Recently Sold Paintings : Pyrmont Paintings at Workplace 6

Plein air oil painting  of Union Square Pyrmont and Pyrmont Street from the roof of the Pyrmont Power Station painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Pyrmont Panorama :
Union Square from the Roof of Pyrmont Power Station
1993 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm
SOLD
PRIVATE COLLECTION : SYDNEY
Enquiries about other Pyrmont paintings

This canvas was from one of my favourite studios - in Pyrmont the roof of the old Pyrmont Power Station.
Many of my paintings concentrate on the spectacular Sydney Harbour views, but for a change I painted the heritage precinct of worker’s cottages, Victorian terraces and bond stores, little knowing how much this view would soon change.
The bond stores next to the vacant lot would soon make way for the substation between Pyrmont and Harris streets. The old “Duke of Edinburgh” hotel on the corner of Union and Harris Streets was renovated and is now called the “Harlequin Inn”.
The handsome sandstone building with a red tiled roof was the Pyrmont Post Office, and has now become the Pyrmont branch of the Bendigo Community Bank.
I exhibited this work as part of my Pyrmont display at Workplace6 during the Sydney Open.
While that exhibition was not intended to be a commercial show, many people contacted my gallery, the Frances Keevil Gallery afterwards to enquire about the paintings.

Saturday 27 November 2010

My Paintings at Sydney Open- Part 2




My exhibition of Pyrmont paintings at 'Workplace6'







Easel on left:
above: 'R.E.V.Y. from the top of the Elcom building' 1991 oil on board 31 x 25cm

centre:'Pyrmont Goods Yard and Miller's Point from the roof of the Pyrmont Power Station' 1993 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm

Easel on right:
above: 'Early morning, Jones Bay Road' 1997 oil on canvas 41 x 51cm

centre:'Building Star City Casino' 1995 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm

Enquiries about my Pyrmont paintings:


Note the reflections on the polished floor.
plein air oil paintings of Pyrmont exhibited at the Sydney Open in the Workplace6 building by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett







Easel on left:
'Closing the gap' 1995 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm

Enquiries about my Pyrmont paintings: