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

My photo
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 Wrought Artworks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wrought Artworks. Show all posts

Wednesday 24 June 2020

Blacksmith forging in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops

Today's painting on my isolation deck gallery is of one of the blacksmiths in Bay 1/2 of the Locomotive Workshops, South Eveleigh, Eveleigh Railway Workshops.

Plein air oil painting of blacksmith in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E93 Blacksmith quenching chisels,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops 2011
oil on canvas 152 x 122cm

This canvas is so large that parts of it are obscured by the railing and roof of my pergola.
However, I did paint it from life - nervously trying to keep my oil paint and turps out of the way of the blacksmiths who were swiftly carrying red-hot metre long metal chisels from the forge and quenching them in a vat of boiling oil!
As you do!

Plein air oil painting of blacksmith in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E93 Blacksmith quenching chisels,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops 2011
oil on canvas 152 x 122cm



More recently, Matthew Mewburn of 'Eveleigh Works' has taken over this important and historically significant task.
The posts below include the stages of these paintings as works in progress on the easel, and some photos from several Open Days at the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops.

Irons in the fire
Watching the forge fires fade
Playing with fire
Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb
Strike while the iron is hot
Eveleigh- Industrial Heritage Artist at Work
 Eveleigh paintings
The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
Time for Safety 
The slow return from the fire 
The fire within 
En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Sunday 18 May 2014

Strike while the iron is hot

Plein air oil painting of an anvil in blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a small painting of an anvil,
one of the blacksmith's
basic tools of the trade
" Anvil" 2014 31 x 31cm oil on canvas

Enquiries

At the ATP community heritage days on the 16th and 17th May, I had 2 exhibitions, one in Bay 1 and 2 of the Blacksmith's workshop and the other in the carriage displayed by the volunteers of 3801 limited, as well as painting throughout the blacksmith's demonstrations .
I am still recovering from being seriously injured not long ago, (fractured pelvis) so I had to be extremely careful. I was given a great deal of help by the volunteers and the management of the ATP, who gave me a room to store my paintings and easels, and a trolley to move them. I am truly grateful, as even just walking still causes me a great deal of pain.
Plein air oil painting of an anvil in blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
" Anvil" 2014
31 x 31cm oil on canvas

Enquiries
This time I kept the paintings fairly small and simple, so as to not put too much pressure on myself, while I'm still recuperating.
However, I have always meant to paint some of the heritage tools anyway. I have previously painted anvils as part of a larger, more complex painting, but it is a beautiful and evocative item in its own right.
Plein air oil painting of blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Enquiries
I had often painted Chris before in a variety of poses, but you have to be fast!
However, after I watch for a while I notice various stages of the process, and get a feeling for the timing and rhythm.
It's hard to decide on which of the hundreds of potential poses to choose to paint. I leave the arms in an unfinished state, as I can't decide on whether to paint him wielding a hammer or a pair of tongs.
Decisions, decisions.
Plein air oil painting of blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a painting of the blacksmith Chris.
The blacksmiths of "Wrought Artworks" move quickly.
"Strike while the iron is hot" isn't just an old proverb - it's a way of life.
They must strike quickly, decisively and with force, however their movements must be controlled and accurate as well.
They also must work as a team and have awareness of who and what is around them.
Exhibition of oil paintings in blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Chris quenching chisels
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm
Enquiries

I exhibited some of my paintings of the Blacksmiths in a corner of their workshop, so that onlookers could compare the paintings with the real thing.
Exhibition of oil paintings in blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Blacksmith" 2009 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Enquiries
It gave viewers an opportunity to see parts of the workshop not visible to the public due to safety concerns.
Exhibition of oil paintings in blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Enquiries
i displayed some of my smaller paintings and books of photos of paintings of other areas of industrial Sydney on a pair of old dusty workbenches.
Exhibition of oil paintings in blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Enquiries
The ATP  has largely retained the old industrial ambience of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops.

Plein air oil painting of blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett













All Fired up -the Blacksmiths
Eveleigh Railway Workshops"
2012 oil on canvas 91x 122cm

Enquiries
Some more of my paintings of the blacksmiths were exhibited in front of an old signal box.
Exhibition of oil paintings of blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Enquiries
The visitors on the first day were mostly retired former Eveleigh workers.
Exhibition of oil paintings of blacksmith's workshop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted during ATP Open Day by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
However, there was a much larger and more diverse group of people attending on the Saturday.
I hope there will be another heritage day next year.

Related posts

Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb
ATP Open Day - Saturday, 25 Feb 2012
Singing the body electric
(sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Sunday 11 May 2014

Eveleigh Community Heritage Day

The ATP Heritage Community Days run from 10am to 3pm on both Friday 16th and Saturday 17th May 2014.

This is a preview of some of the paintings I will display in the Blacksmith's workshop Bay 1 and 2 

 "ATP" is the acronym for the Australian Technology Park.
Not to be confused with Carriageworks! 
plein air oil painting of heritage steam train 3801 painted at the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"3801 steaming, Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops"
 2006 oil on canvas 36 x 28cm

Enquiries
The ATP is on the southern side of  Redfern station, while Carriageworks is on the northern side.
I will also have some paintings of the 3801 and other historic steam locomotives as well as interiors of the Large Erecting Shop exhibited in and around the heritage carriages. 
These carriages will be displayed by the volunteers of the 3801 at the western end, near Channel 7's new building.
plein air oil painting of heritage steam train 3801 painted at the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Geoff and the 3801 
outside the Large Erecting Shop'
2006  oil on canvas  38 x 76cm

Enquiries
As well as the trains, I've even immortalized a few of the volunteers!
oil painting of Blacksmith painted at the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
 'Forging,Wrought Artworks '
2010 oil on canvas 20 x 25cm

Enquiries
I will also be painting the blacksmiths from "Wrought Artworks", who will be giving a couple of forging demonstrations in Bay 2 south on both days. 
oil painting of Blacksmith's Forge painted at the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Forge, Wrought Artworks, Eveleigh"
2008  oil on canvas 56 x 76cm
Enquiries
In the centre of this painting is the legendary 'Davy Press', built in the era when industry operated on a heroic scale.
Richard Butcher,heritage volunteer and an ex- Eveleigh Workshop Blacksmith, will give tours of Bay 1 and 2 (which has the enormous Davy Press). Richard has written the most amazing book about the Eveleigh Railway Workshops and is a genuine living legend!
More details about the Eveleigh Community heritage days

Sunday 4 March 2012

Time for Safety

"It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdue
Unto fair form, the image of their thought :
Nor without fire hath any artist wrought
Gold to its utmost purity of hue.
Nay, nor the unmatched phoenix lives anew,
Unless she burn."

Michelangelo, Sonnet 59

I've finally completed my portrait of Chris forging chisels.

Oil painting of blacksmith in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm .

Oil painting of blacksmith in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett

Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm.

In Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the artist would often paint dark red velvet drapery fluttering behind the subject. The dye used for this colour was extracted from the murex shell.
It was prohibitively expensive and difficult to obtain, so using it as a backdrop would emphasise the aura of aristocratic power. Think of the background to Van Dyck's portraits of the pre-Civil War English court or Titian's portraits of the Papacy.
My luxurious crimson curtain is actually the welding screen, but it does give a feeling of the lost glories of the past.
Oil painting of blacksmith in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Detail from Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"
 2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm .

Oil painting of blacksmith in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Time for Safety" detail from
 Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm 

 A decrepit "Time for Safety" sign is propped against the arched window frame. It reminds me more of a late Victorian moralizing wall plaque than an early example of Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

"Time for Safety" detail from
Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm

These days people have become risk averse to a ridiculous degree. In doing so they lose the chance to turn their fear into courage.
To paraphrase an old song, there is a time for safety and  there is a time for risk.
 Being an artist is risky. Doing anything interesting is always inherently risky.
Risks aren't always obvious.
The major risk to the blacksmiths isn't their hair catching fire, as they are too skilled. The real threat is that a combination of economic and political conditions could make their entire existence no longer viable.

Oil painting of blacksmith in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Blacksmith forging chisels"
2011-12 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

I'm now touching up the background of this painting of a different stage of the chisel forging process. This painting shows Euan crouched in the centre as the Massey hammer pounds the point into shape.
I'm very happy with both of these paintings.
So happy that next week I'll enter the painting of Chris in the Archibald Prize and the one of Euan in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.
I'm not famous and neither are they, so I haven't a prayer with either work.
I'll waste $60 and half a day delivering them, but I feel like entering just for a stir.
Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.
Unlike most of the entries, these haven't been whipped up just to enter a prize but are part of my normal work. I'm sick of the typical Archibald formula for prize winning entries - a  giant close up of a head, without context or content, painted from a slide projector.
Oil painting of blacksmith in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Detail from portrait of
"Chris Sulis forging chisels" 
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm
 
I hadn't originally expected this to be a portrait, but one of a series of paintings of the process of chisel forging.
The previous painting showing Euan at the hammer is a very good likeness, but the figure is in the midground, although he is the focus of the whole work. The blacksmiths could not "pose" for me in any formal sense of the word, or even stay still for more than a few seconds as they were very busy working to their deadline. I took an immense risk painting a large full length figure dominating the foreground in a pose that he could not sustain for longer than a few seconds. I had to watch and wait whilst immersing myself in their world.  The more I painted Chris, the more his pose seemed to gather authority and purpose.
As I have painted Chris doing the work that he loves in the place that he loves, this painting will probably be tagged with the pejorative term "genre piece". Yet it tells you more about the thoughts and values of the subject than most Archibald portraits.

Saturday 3 March 2012

The fire within

"What is accomplished by fire is alchemy, whether in the furnace or kitchen stove."

Paracelsus
Fire is still a source of mystery and magic. It is a transforming element as well as a symbol of destruction. The discovery that fire could smelt metal was an immense technical advance in the evolution of humanity.
The smiths had at their command a material that could be cast, moulded, or hammered into a tool, an ornament, a vessel for cooking or storing food or drink, or a weapon.

Oil painting of blacksmith forging in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Unfinished painting of "Chris, the blacksmith
of Wrought Artworks, forging chisels"
2011-12 oil painting on canvas 183 x 122cm




















I started this large (183 x 122cm) canvas of the blacksmith Chris Sulis quenching a chisel late last year. This is how the canvas looked when I displayed it at the recent ATP Open Day on Saturday 25th February 2012.
I was interrupted in the progress of this large canvas by having to prepare for 3 major solo exhibitions in less than 4 months. Most artists hold only 1 solo show every 2 years so this totally disrupted the progress of my painting. 
I hate displaying unfinished paintings, but I did so at the ATP Open Day as I thought that it would give the audience a useful insight into the painting process. They would see me starting a variety of small canvases, compare these cryptic squiggles to the half finished ones, and then be able to see  finished works in the exhibition in Bay 12. One man thought that I was using one of the small canvases as a palette, until an image of Guido hammering  started to appear from the cloud of brushstrokes!
Oil painting of blacksmith forging in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
A close up detail of the unfinished painting of Chris.
He is quenching one of a seemingly endless pile of chisels,
 which have to be reforged and sharpened weekly.
On Monday I decided it was about time to complete the large canvas. It was certainly worth finishing, but it was a large, complex and ambitious work, full of perspective and lighting problems. I hadn't been able to spend much time painting large scale works this year due to my punishing exhibition schedule, so I felt a bit rusty. And the blacksmiths can't stop to model, however much they might like to - they are very busy!
Oil painting of blacksmith forging in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Unfinished painting of "Chris,
the blacksmith of Wrought Artworks, forging chisels"
2011-12 oil painting on canvas 183 x 122cm

Enquiries  

This shows my large painting as it was on Tuesday mid-morning.
Chris is working the Massey steam hammer in the background. He will stay in this tense crouch for about 30 seconds - and this will be the longest that he will stay still all day!
Every Tuesday, a pile of 100 - 150 chisels arrive to be reforged, sharpened and picked up the next Tuesday. Some of them have been bent into "J" shaped giant fishhooks and need a combination of heating, hammering on both the traditional anvil and the heritage Massey air hammer and even angle grinding. They are described as "chisels","points" or "tapping bars" - I don't know which of these terms is correct (if any!). Apparently these points are attached to jackhammers. One of the blacksmiths estimated that during his apprenticeship he would have reforged about 1,000 of these in a week.
They have mixed feelings about this task - it seems repetitive and neverending but they love using the old -fashioned machinery.
I have similar feelings - it is so exciting to paint this, but it is incredibly noisy and afterwards I feel drained and exhausted.
The pounding of the Massey hammer can be heard even through earmuffs, and there is a small yet fierce furnace heating the points that makes this an uncomfortable place to work on such a humid day.

Oil painting of blacksmith forging in the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Unfinished painting of
"Chris, the blacksmith of
Wrought Artworks, forging chisels"
2011-12 oil painting on canvas 183 x 122cm


















This is how my painting looked after the Tuesday forging session. My next post will show further progress.
I'm grateful to Julie from "Sydney Eye" who has now posted several articles featuring my series of paintings of Wrought Artworks. The most recent are :

En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)