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.

Tuesday 28 March 2017

This is how the light gets in

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

“Anthem,” by Leonard Cohen from his 1992 album The Future.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a small square canvas 46 x 46cm
of two windows and a door in the
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Enquiries
These are healing words to someone who often struggles under the unbearable weight of perfectionism. It is more than a confrontation with the strange beauty of broken things.
It is a powerful message of hope in dark times.There is a crack in everything whether a physical object such as a piece of machinery, or even a state of mind.
But that’s where the light gets in, and that’s where we can find the transcendence we need to interpret painful events in a wider context.
Literally, nothing, and nobody is perfect.That should not be a source of despair or frustration.
Imperfection is a sign of life.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a small square canvas 46 x 46cm
of two windows and a door in the
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Enquiries
If the purpose of a window is to be able to let an observer see outside, or to illuminate the interior, the windows of the Large Erecting Shop of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops fail spectacularly.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'2 windows and a door in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Enquiries
However, the evocative effects created by sunlight filtering through the grid of rusty bars rival the stained glass of Chartres Cathedral.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'2 windows and a door in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Enquiries
Every pane is a unique mix of translucency and texture.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a 91 x 61cm canvas
of the strange green window.
" 2 windows and a door, Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops' 2017
oil on canvas 46 x 46cm 
Enquiries
Their ethereal opalescent quality is not caused by expensive designer frosting, but by more than a century's buildup of deposits of dirt, pigeon droppings, steam and diesel fumes.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a 91 x 61cm canvas
of the strange green window.
Enquiries
And there are cracks galore.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting a 91 x 61cm canvas
of the strange green window.
Enquiries
Other imperfections abound.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Half finished 91 x 61cm canvas
of the strange green window.
'2 windows and a door in the
Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm"
Enquiries
Ghost signs warning of the dangers of long lost machinery alternate with boarded over panes in abstract patterns that would make Mondriaan's head spin.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Half finished 91 x 61cm canvas of the strange green window.
Enquiries
Doors are abruptly cut into them, apparently at random.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Half finished 91 x 61cm canvas of the strange green window.
Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com
An inexplicably green pane of glass casts an eerie phosphorescent glow.
Plein air oil painting of windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Window with pane of green glass"
2017 oil on canvas 91 x 61cm
Enquiries
When the Large Erecting Shop is redeveloped, the windows will be replaced with uncracked clear panes to match the rest of the gentrified ATP.
No rogue panes of eldritch green glass will startle the viewer with their otherworldly light. They will be made safe, watertight, functional, identical and boring.
The chaotic jumble of heritage machinery in the Large Erecting Shop will be culled and tamed. There will be nothing accidental, mysterious or inexplicable.
There will soon be no cracks left to let the light in.
More paintings of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops

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The fire within

Monday 27 March 2017

Eaten by robots

My old studio, the Harbour Control Tower
Plein air oil painting of the Harbour Control Tower before it was demolished and the Hotel Palisade near Barangaroo painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
MP55 Harbour Control Tower from Observatory Hill
2016 oil on paper 9.5 x 9.5cm
 
Another one of my old studios has bitten the dust.
I feel like I can jinx a place just by painting it.
I have been observing the start of the demolition of the Port Operations Harbour Tower in Millers Point.
Love it or loathe it, the Tower was one of the last vestiges of Barangaroo's former life as a working port.
The heart and soul of the former 'Hungry Mile' has been ripped out and replaced with machines.
Literally.
Plein air oil painting of the Harbour Control Tower before it was demolished and the Hotel Palisade near Barangaroo painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
MP56 Harbour Control Tower from Argyle st
2016 oil on paper 9.5 x 9.5cm
Available 
Once the 'mushroom cap' at the top of the Tower was fully removed, the concrete stem below it was eaten away by robotic excavators from the top down.
Just another portent of the world envisioned by Isaac Asimov in his book “I, Robot. Technology asserts its robotic grip whether you like it or not.
Progress is so impersonal.
Eaten by robots- what a way to go!
So very Dr Who. "Exterminate, exterminate!"
Plein air oil painting of the Harbour Control Tower being demolished from the Hotel Palisade near Barangaroo painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
MP54 Harbour Control Tower
from the Hotel Palisade 2016-7
oil on canvas 122 x 153cm
Available

Meanwhile paint peels off surrounding terraces awaiting their inevitable gentrification. The Hotel Palisade opposite has completed its journey from seedy early opening waterfront dive to expensive hipster hub, while retaining some of the trappings of its colourful past.

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Wednesday 8 March 2017

Ghost train

Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
There has been a lot of uncertainty about the future of the 3801 Ltd, and even of the Large Erecting Shop itself. Many of the relics will probably be lost or put into storage if the site is to become a running shed. This would mean that trains would still run from the shed, but no repair or maintenance work could be carried out. Anything not required merely to run the trains would then be removed from the interior and either sent to Thirlmere, put in storage or even put in a skip bin.
Already a lot of items have been put in the skip or just disappeared.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
This old office in the Large Erecting shop of Eveleigh Railway Workshops, had been used to store stacks of windows and doors waiting to be repaired to refurbish a carriage.
In front of it are lathes, drills and boxes of rusting tools that obviously are many decades old.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
This old office is an example of the sort of item that may not be kept, despite its historical interest.
Before it was used to store windows, it had been the headquarters of the 51⁄2 year restoration of 3830, which was carried out by a team of about 12 volunteers from the Powerhouse Museum and 3801 Limited.
There are still ghost signs that haven't been erased from when the restoration of 3830 started in 1992.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Enquiries
On the weathered sky blue boards are inscriptions in white chalk about its time of service.
"3830 18 years 11 months 4 days
Into service 27/9/49
Withdrawn 31/10/67 (Illegible) birthday 23 years
Cost £53,145/2/0 Basic Wage 4/8 11/20d/hour
Builders' No 170 40 hours £8/12/0 approx"

Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - 'Engine shop,
Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
The blackboard on the left hand side of the window of the old office has a mysterious list of the 38 class locos, split into 2 sections.
The left hand side of the blackboard starts with 3826, 3830, 3802, 3801, 3810, 3812, 3825, 3804, 3813, 3826, 3823, 3818, 3808, 3807, then there is a vertical line.
On the other side 3806 has been almost erased, then 3814, 3811, 3819, 3828, 3806, 3809, 3811, then a few illegible words with "38's are great mate" written over them.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Engine shop, Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
I had wondered why the numbers had been written in such a haphazard order, and why some were missing and others repeated.
It was obviously not chronological, but there was obviously a reason behind it.
The secret was finally revealed by a veteran of the restoration.
The 3830 was a sort of 'Frankenstein's monster', composed of parts cannibalized from other 38 class locos.
The list of 38 class locos refers to the original source of particular items that finally ended up as part of 3830.
Ironically, the current (although now non-functioning) boiler of the 3830, was the original boiler of the 3801! The saga of the many attempts to fix /replace the current boiler of 3801 has been dragging on since 2007.
Now in 2020, ironically the boiler has been fixed and the loco is operational, but due to the Covid restrictions, the planned grand opening has had to be postponed.
Plein air oil painting of interior of the Large Erecting Shop in Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Engine shop, Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Unfortunately restoration and maintenance may not be regarded as priorities in the proposed future of this building.
I think that this is a short sighted policy that shows an appalling lack of respect to all the hard work carried out over so many decades by so many volunteers. This attitude will lead to the loss of irreplaceable heritage items and skills.

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Monday 29 August 2016

"The Mother Art is Architecture"

"The Mother Art is Architecture" is part of a quote by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The full quotation is  : "The Mother Art is Architecture. Without an Architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization".
I am one of 6 artists, John Waters, Isabelle Devos, Jane Bennett, Stephen Nova, Chris Brown, and Hadyn Wilson currently exhibiting in the group show "The Mother Art is Architecture" at FrancesKeevil Gallery, 28-34 Cross Street Double Bay. Architecture is  the theme; yet each artist takes it in quite different directions.
Almost everything that I have ever painted has either been demolished or changed beyond all recognition: the pubs have been gentrified, working class terraces are now apartment blocks and Sydney is no longer a Working Harbour.
I have spent most of my career painting the loss of Sydney's "soul of civilization".
Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/franklloyd127711.html
Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/franklloyd127711.html
I was "Artist in Residence" at the "Hungry Mile", East Darling Harbour Wharves during its last years as a working port, courtesy of Patrick Stevedores and Sydney Ports Corporation. When I knew that port operations were ending, I used the wharf itself as a studio and gained unprecedented access to every aspect of the activities there. I painted on the wharves, from the bridge of the ships (courtesy of the ship’s captains) and wonderful bird’s eye views from the top of Harbour Control Tower. After the last ship had sailed, I continued my epic series of paintings of Barangaroo, the largest and most controversial Sydney Harbour construction project in living memory.
Plein air oil painting of the Harbour Control Tower by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
MW62 Harbour Tower from Moore's Wharf '
2015 oil on canvas 51 x 41cm


I had the run of the top floor and the amenities level of the 87 metre high Harbour Control Tower from the early 2000s until port operations finished there in April 2011, and afterwards had access to create paintings of various stages of the construction of Barangaroo. I spent many  New Year’s Eves on the top floor, painting 360 degrees of the fireworks exploding underneath against the unforgettable harbour view.
Two major works on paper which I painted from the top of the Harbour Control Tower a couple of years apart, will be featured in this exhibition.
These two large mixed media drawings show the maximum possible contrast between old and new; between heritage and development; between tradition and progress.
One shows views over Barangaroo and the waterfront. The other looks out over Millers Point towards the bridge. A nod to the past - and a look to the future.
The 2 works overlap slightly,  sharing the sweeping curve of the workers terraces of High Street as well as the quirky asymmetry of the old Palisade Hotel in common. They are on the far left hand side of the earlier work, and on the far right hand side of the later work.
ink charcoal gouache drawing on paper of Barangaroo and Millers Point from the Harbour Control Tower  by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
HCT34  'Millers Point and Barangaroo
 from the top of Harbour Tower' 2010
ink acrylic gouache on paper 102 x 125cm
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By the time of painting the later work, the Palisade had nearly completed its transformation from a down at heel wharfies’ dive into a luxurious upmarket watering hole for the new residents of Barangaroo and Walsh Bay Wharves.
The earliest version of the Palisade was built in the late 1800s, but the Sydney Harbour Trust commissioned Henry Deane Walsh to build a hotel on top of the pub, which was completed in 1915. The Palisade Hotel was literally a landmark as it was the highest building in Sydney at the time. Many diggers sank their last beer at the hotel before they boarded ships bound for the First and Second World War. It was also used as a lodge for workers constructing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Over the years, the hotel has been frequented by many “colourful characters”. There's almost too much history in the walls.
Atop Millers Point, high above the harbour, the old Palisade Hotel sat forlorn for 7 years from the end of World Youth Day in 2008 until its reopening in August 2015, just in time for its centenary.  It had been closed in 2008 for an renovation by the then owner and sold at auction in March 2015 for about $20 million. Now the new owners have given it a $5 million renovation and reopened the ground-floor public bar.
This large mixed media drawing shows the view looking south from the Harbour Tower. The wharf buildings have just been cleared, revealing a bare expanse of concrete with a few cryptic markings which could either be for vehicles or possibly guidelines for future construction. The white marquee in the centre right of the wharf is the temporary cruise ship terminal. Soon afterwards, it was removed when the new cruise ship terminal at White Bay was opened.
 A faint shadow of the Harbour Tower is cast over a section of the wharf, about to be excavated for the Barangaroo Headland Park, which opened a year ago in August 2015.
The left hand side shows the early 20th century Federation heritage architecture of Millers Point, still at this stage inhabited by the descendants of 5 generations of waterside workers. The staggered walls and gables that serrate the roofline of High Street are groupings of 4 individual flats, rather than individual houses.
Upper flats were divided from lower flats by an ingenious use of panels, to lessen noise and the risk of the spread of fire. Each flat had its own ventilated laundry, bathroom and scullery at the rear to maintain hygienic living conditions.
The lower flats had a courtyard to dry clothes and access to a rear lane for rubbish collection. The upper flats had rooftop drying platforms made of solid hardwood beams, packed tightly side by side and bonded by steel rods. The washing was launched into the air by nifty pulley mechanisms. Brick chutes and concrete tubes allowed rubbish to be dropped to the lane below.   
These humble dwellings were actually cutting edge design solutions to the problems of medium density urban living. They pioneered some of the earliest use of now ubiquitous technology in Sydney housing and incorporate some of the aesthetics and principles of Frank Lloyd Wright, who believed buildings should be made from the land and benefit the environment.
Another famous quote by Frank Lloyd Wright can be used to contrast the modest utility of the workers flats with the pomposity of recent development at Barangaroo : "A building should appear to grow easily from its site and be shaped to harmonize with its surroundings if Nature is manifest there.”
 
ink charcoal gouache drawing on paper of Barangaroo and Millers Point, Walsh Bay Wharves, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Hammerhead Crane from the Harbour Control Tower by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
HCT42 'Vale Millers Point' 2014
 ink acrylic  gouache on paper
106 x 136cm
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This mixed media drawing was one of the last I was able to paint from the top of the Harbour Tower.
It's the quintessential Sydney Harbour view, with a breathtaking panorama of Walsh Bay Wharves and Millers Point below my feet, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.
 I have painted every single building in this canvas from ground level, often from several angles, and met most of the residents and workers, old and new.

Detail of ink charcoal gouache drawing on paper of Barangaroo and Millers Point, Walsh Bay Wharves, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Hammerhead Crane from the Harbour Control Tower by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Detail of protest banners in High Street -

HCT42 'Vale Millers Point' 2014

ink , gouache on paper 106 x 136cm

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The heritage architecture of Millers Point is festooned with a few defiant banners protesting against the inevitable eviction of the residents of High Street, Windmill Street, Lower Fort Street and Dalgety Terrace.
Reg Mombassa designed a T-shirt with the logo of a skull smoking a cigar and wearing a top hat, symbolizing the real estate agents and developers now infesting the once sleepy backwater.
A few hang from the rooftop drying platforms in Dalgety Terrace.

ink charcoal gouache drawing on paper of Barangaroo and Millers Point, Walsh Bay Wharves, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Hammerhead Crane from the Harbour Control Tower by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Close up detail of
protest T Shirts in Dalgety Terrace
HCT42 'Vale Millers Point' 2014 
ink acrylic  gouache on paper 106 x 136cm

 

At the time of painting, the Palisade Hotel was soon to be re- opened after 7 years of emptiness. In contrast, the city and Walsh Bay Wharves remain shrouded in darkness. 
In the background, cranes pick at the skeleton of the half demolished Hammerhead Crane on Garden Island. 
Earlier that year I had braved the daunting bureaucracy of the Navy to become the ‘Artist in Residence’ on Garden Island for several months so that I was able to paint the last days of this historic naval relic before it was demolished.
While painting this work, I realized the Harbour Control Tower was under threat of demolition, despite being an iconic landmark. 
The demolition process began in March 2016 and will continue until the end of the year.
Another quote from Frank Lloyd Wright :
“Architecture is life, or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived.”