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 industrial painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label industrial painting. Show all posts

Sunday 2 August 2020

Painting the industrial past on Cockatoo Island - Before and After

Cockatoo Island, the largest island in Sydney Harbour, is located at the intersection of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers. It is the last vestige of the era of the Industrial Revolution remaining in Sydney.
Plein air industrial painting of cranes at Cockatoo Island by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK8B & CK52 Crane & slipway from the Officers headquarters
1989 & 2007 oil on canvas 61 x 46cm
Between 1839 -1869 Cockatoo Island was a prison colony.
The inmates not only excavated the 2 tunnels and 2 graving docks that nearly bisect the island, but to add insult to injury they even had to build their own gaol using the excavated sandstone of the island! The only successful escapee was bushranger Captain Thunderbolt (his more prosaic real name was Fred Ward), who escaped on 19th September 1863.
After its stint as Sydney's 'Alcatraz' the island was used as a graving dock,  reformatory and industrial schools, and a major shipbuilding site.
In the early twentieth century Cockatoo Island became one of Australia’s most important industrial sites where ships were built, repaired and modified. Thousands were trained and employed there. I still meet people who did their apprenticeship as a boilermaker or fitter and turner on Cockatoo Island.
As the progressive removal of tariffs, regressive government policies, the high dollar and the pressures of globalization helped kill off Australian manufacturing, the focus of employment has turned increasingly to tourism, entertainment and service industries.
Most of Sydney’s former sites of industrial and maritime activity have now been gobbled up by developers for monolithic dormitories of beige apartment blocks. After many political battles, some remaining industrial structures of Cockatoo Island have been retained, against all odds. Although some large workshops, slipways, wharves, residences and other buildings remain, such as the Turbine Shop and the Mould Loft, many major buildings were demolished after Cockatoo Island closed as a dockyard in 1991.
Now it's a UNESCO world heritage site and its industrial ambience has been exploited for many cultural events. It was the site for the filming of X Men Origins -Wolverine and several 'reality' programs. Since 2008 it has been the flagship venue of Sydney’s Biennale. However, its original function as part of Sydney’s rapidly disappearing Working Harbour, has gone forever.
When I was 'Artist in Residence' there in the mid-late 1980s and then again in the early 2000s, I was the only artist on the island.
For the last decade, the public has been allowed to visit the island, but when I painted the 2nd canvas in 2007, it was still off limits. The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was frantically fixing up the infrastructure to be able to open it to tourists. I would travel by barge at the crack of dawn from Mort's Dock with the other workmen.
Plein air industrial painting of cranes at Cockatoo Island by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK8B 2 Cranes on the North-West Slipway
1989 oil on canvas 61 x 46cm
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I started painting on Cockatoo Island in the mid 1980s when it was still operational and submarines were still being refitted there.
I'd have to sign the Official Secrets Act and promise faithfully not to paint any submarines or sell any of my paintings to the Russians. I'd leave my easel, paints and table in the office of the Ship Painters and Dockers building between Fitzroy and Sutherland docks.
There was a sign "Pro Painter Foreman" on the door, which always made me laugh. I was so naive that I didn't know anything about the reputation of this notorious union!
These two canvases were painted at the same location,the north - western slipway, at the same time of day, at the same time of year and on the same format canvas - but 18 years apart.
Plein air industrial painting of cranes at Cockatoo Island by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK52 Crane & slipway from the Officers headquarters
2007 oil on canvas 61 x 46cm
Enquiries

The most obvious difference between the 1989 and 2007 paintings is the omission of the pale green crane, a casualty of a storm not long after the 1989 canvas was painted.
This was the Butters crane, purchased from the Whyalla Shipyards in 1979, when Cockatoo Island was trying to adopt more innovative strategies,for the construction of HMAS Success in 1983-4. The rather forlorn looking crane left on its own in the 2007 painting, was the ex- West Wall crane, also a comparatively recent addition to the island, as it was relocated from Garden Island in the 1970s.
This partial modernization was a false dawn, however, as HMAS Success would be last ever ship built and launched at Cockatoo Island. Less than 8 years later, the island was closed.     

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Article written by Steve Meacham in the Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday 18 June 2020

No 'glamping' on Cockatoo Island

This is a painting of the Utility crane in front of Sutherland Dock, Cockatoo Island.
Plein air painting of industrial heritage, crane at Sutherland Dock Cockatoo Island painted by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK36'Cockatoo Island- Crane, Sutherland Dock and the escarpment'
2006 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Enquiries

For the last decade, the public has been allowed to visit the island, but when I painted this in 2006, it was still off limits.
The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was frantically fixing up the infrastructure to be able to open it to tourists. I would travel by barge at the crack of dawn from Mort's Dock with the other workmen.
Plein air painting of industrial heritage, crane at Sutherland Dock Cockatoo Island painted by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK36'Cockatoo Island- Crane, Sutherland Dock and the escarpment'
2006 oil on canvas 75x100cm
Enquiries

In the afternoon, I had to make sure I didn't miss the last barge back to the mainland, or I'd have to spend the night there.
Now there is 'glamping', but back then there were no facilities at all! No tents, no shelter - I occasionally spent the odd night in a tunnel, which was creepy. There wasn't even drinkable water & we all got terribly sick until we learnt to bring our own water!
Plein air painting of industrial heritage, crane at Sutherland Dock Cockatoo Island painted by industrial artist Jane Bennett
CK36'Cockatoo Island- Crane, Sutherland Dock and the escarpment'
2006 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Enquiries

20 years before, I had painted on the island, near the end of its life as a working shipyard.

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Wednesday 5 July 2017

38's are great, mate

This is the big brother of the small square painting that I created in "Ghost Train"
I liked the small painting so much that I decided to paint a much larger canvas that would really evoke the atmosphere of the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in pin sharp detail. All the apparent chaos and clutter of a true workshop in all its glory!
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. It has a couple of old signs on its roof "Engine Shop" and "The Professionals", which I was told had been pinched from a local real estate agent!
It's ironic in more ways than one, because, whilst experts in their field, the people working on the restoration of 3830 were mostly volunteers.
In front of it are lathes, drills and boxes of rusting tools that obviously are many decades old.
The 3830 was put back together with the help 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.


Plein air oil painting of the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E129 '38s are great mate'
2017 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm
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"
I've read worse poetry!
The scarred and half rotten boards also bear the postscript  "38's are great mate" written on them.

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The fire within

Monday 19 June 2017

Charge your battery

Painting the interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
 in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
  


















I painted while the interior of the Large Erecting Shop was being decluttered so it could be turned into a running shed.
There's the usual workshop detritus that's been lying around so long that everyone's forgotten who put it there and why.
Painting the interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm


















In this area is an ancient trolley and a wooden pallet loaded with old lead acid batteries.
The lead acid battery, so familiar to motorists, was originally used to power the lights in train carriages while stopped at a station. It was invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté and is the oldest type of rechargeable battery.
Despite having a low energy-to-weight ratio and a low energy-to-volume ratio, the lead acid battery can supply high surge currents, so that the cells have a large power-to-weight ratio. This,as well as their low cost, made them an efficient way to provide the high current required by carstarter motors.
As electric cars take over the world, the lead acid battery will soon become obsolete.
So this still life is a fitting symbol of transience - an industrial memento mori.
Painting the interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Between the windows in the foreground is an old slatted pine heavy duty trolley.
It has cast iron, rather than rubber wheels, so probably dates from the late 19th century.
Painting the interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - E125 ' '2 windows
in the Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops'
2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

I see beauty in highlighting the truth, however random,awkward or clumsy it may be.. 

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