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.

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







































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1 comment:

Gabrielle Jones said...

What a great thing to be doing! I have live din Balmain for 8 years and often stare at that building as I come down Mullens Street, thinking what a wonderful and other worldly thing it is! So much material for
an artist! I also have a connection of earlier years, having worked for a government body that used to store it's paperwork there. So many lives in a building! What a wonderful practice you have, all that history. Keep it up (and thanks for becoming a follower of my blog)