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.

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

The White Shed at White Bay



Demolition of the White Bay Transit shed will soon commence.
Cardinal, who demolished the wharf buildings at East Darling Harbour, have set up in the old canteen at the western end of the shed.
I started this canvas on Tuesday 8th November.
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm.



















I've been told that the gantries on either side of the shed have been heritage listed, but I don't know if they will be retained. White Bay has been confirmed as the site of the new cruise ship terminal.
Sydney Ports Corporation owns and manages White Bay Berths 1-6. The berths are leased to licensees who operate independent businesses including:
Private Harbour Cruises, Road Construction, Harbour Construction and Vessel Maintenance.

plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
Starting to paint the sky of a canvas of the
soon to be demolished
'White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm





















I've been allowed to paint the shed from the most eastern point, Berth 6, leased from Sydney Ports Corporation by Bailey's Marine Fuels.
Berth 5 is leased by the PB tug "Endeavour", a small and extremely cute pale blue tug with a black hull, only just over a year old.
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
My half finished canvas 'White Bay Transit Shed,
from Berth 6, White Bay' 2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm.


















At Berth 4, is the scary looking "Sea Shepherd", bane of the Japanese whaling fleet. They will depart for Antarctica on Friday 18th November, so if I am to paint them I need to work fast.
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
'White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
 2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm.


















Berth 3 houses Waterway Constructions. They are now the proud owners of the largest crane I have seen since Titan sank.
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
'White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm.


















Berth 2 has a motley collection of barges and a yellowish tug that looks just as battered as my station wagon. To the west are the Ausbarge tugs, the Morpeth and Coramba. Their funnels have been given a fresh coat of bright blue, since I last painted them.
Berth 1 is home to the tall ship, the 'Southern Swan', formerly known as the 'Svanen'.
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
'White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm.





















 
The sullen clouds overhead developed into a violent storm, known as a "southerly buster".
The day after, Baileys started to construct an awning between the two blue containers, to provide shelter for their workmen.Later that afternoon an impressive southerly buster blew up, as you can see by the ominous stormclouds above the shed in both the painting and the photo.




plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
'White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 36 x 46cm.
The next day, Wednesday 9th November, I had to make an early start, as I had a very important appointment to keep.
In late 2009, I had been approached by some people from St Vincents Hospital to paint a block of heritage terraces soon to be redeveloped for the new Kollings Cancer Institute. Just when I had thought everyone had forgotten about this, St Vincents Hospital notified me that they had booked me to have a major solo exhibition of these paintings from 4th February - 8th March 2012.
Wednesday would be my opportunity to meet and discuss the exhibition before the organizers took their Christmas break.I arrived by 7am, unpacked and started this small canvas by 7.30am.
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 36 x 46cm.


















However, to arrive at my meeting and still manage to look halfway human for the meeting at 1pm I had to stop painting by 11am and scrub myself clean.
The weather looked a bit dodgy, so the people from Bailey's kindly allowed me to store my half finished canvases in one of the toilet blocks in case it rained while I was away.
As I was going to take my collection of paintings of the Victoria terraces in to see how they would look in the exhibition space at Xavier level 3, I wouldn't be able to pack my wet canvases and easel on top of these earlier works without risking disaster.
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting the White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay.

plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm.
The meeting was a great success, and I'm very excited about the forthcoming exhibition at St Vincents, even though my last exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery has only just ended.
I'll barely have time to catch my breath between projects. 
plein air oil painting of the White Bay Transit Shed, White Bay Wharf by industrial and maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
White Bay Transit Shed, from Berth 6, White Bay'
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 91cm.


















The tanks and containers are reflected in the pools of water left over from Tuesday's violent storm.
 
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Tuesday, 1 November 2011

All fired up

Designer + Blacksmith = The Collaborative Effect
 This event, coordinated by Alain-Henri Chazelles of IN HOUSE GROUP3, brought designer Alex Ritchie, (Creative Director of experiential design agency E2) and metalworker Guido Gouverneur (Blacksmith and Metalworker of Wrought Artworks and Steel Windows and Doors), together to discuss forged iron and conceptually designed architectural metalwork in the built environment.
Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks' Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist,
painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks'
 Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Guido and his team of blacksmiths also gave an exciting forging demonstration. 
Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks' Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist
painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks'
Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops

Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks' Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist
painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks'
Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops
I also gave a demonstration of how I paint fast-moving artisans working in darkness, while attempting to dodge the twirling batons of red-hot metal that they waved around with such nonchalant grace.
exhibition by Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks' Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Exhibition by Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist,
 painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks'
 Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops
I exhibited a selection of my paintings of the Blacksmiths of Wrought Artworks as well as paintings of the fascinating interior and Victorian era heritage industrial machinery of the site.
One of the great drawcards of the ATP has been the continual operation of Blacksmith’s shop in Bays 1 & 2 South at the ATP.  From the very beginning it has been seen as maintaining a link to the buildings industrial past. The construction of the ATP had even included the erection of an acoustic wall so that the workshop could continue to function close to the new occupants. However the existance of the Blacksmith's shop was threatened when the Redfern Waterloo Authority served them with a notice to quit by the 30th September 2008. After a successful campaign and Open Day the RWA and the Blacksmiths then signed a Lease that preserved the operating Blacksmiths and recognised the vital importance of heritage preservation in the operations of the Technology Park.
See the history of the campaign to save the blacksmith :
Redwatch "ATP's operating Blacksmith"
exhibition by Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks' Australian Technology Park Eveleigh Railway Workshops
Exhibition by Jane Bennett, industrial heritage artist,
painting the blacksmiths of 'Wrought Artworks'
Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops
 The photos of me in action were taken by Frances Keevil, the Director of the Frances Keevil Gallery.
painting by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett 'Blacksmith forging '    WINNER  Miniature Painting  Prize 2011 Royal Easter Show
E83 'Blacksmith forging '
2011 ink pastel acrylic on paper 9 x 10cm  
WINNER 2nd Prize for Miniature Painting 
2011 Royal Easter Show 
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painting by  industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett 'Blacksmith forging '
E64 The Blacksmith 2011
oil on canvas 75x100cm

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Next year, for a single day on Saturday 25th February 2012, the whole Australian Technology Park will be open to the public.
There will be another forging demonstration and I will have an even larger exhibition of paintings, as well as giving a demonstration of painting the heritage interiors and the blacksmiths.

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

"May close without warning" My solo exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery : Part 3- Meet the artist

May close without warning" will soon close!

On Saturday 29th October 2011 from 2-4pm, I'm giving an artist's talk about how and why I created this series of paintings

Please join us this Saturday 29th October, 2011

from 2 - 4pm, to meet JANE BENNETT

Marine Art - plein air oil painting of the Sydney Ports Emergency Response tug Shirley Smith from Moore's Wharf Walsh Bay Wharves by maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
MW2 'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm
Available for sale
Enquiries about this painting
Marine Art - plein air oil painting of the Sydney Ports Emergency Response tug Shirley Smith from Moore's Wharf Walsh Bay Wharves by maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
MW1 'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
Marine Art-plein air oil painting of Cruise Ship terminal East Darling Harbour Wharves (now Barangaroo) by marine artist Jane Bennett
BAR8 'I saw the number 8 in red'
2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
SOLD
Enquiries about this painting

Marine Art-plein air oil painting of Cruise Ship terminal East Darling Harbour Wharves (now Barangaroo) by marine artist Jane Bennett
BAR7 'Red Square (Strange Customs)'
2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
Available for sale
Enquiries about this painting


Tuesday, 18 October 2011

"May close without warning" Solo exhibition at Frances Keevil Gallery Part 2 "All that is solid melts into air"

More Paintings and Drawings from my solo exhibition
"May close without warning"
at the Frances Keevil Gallery
11 - 30 OCTOBER 2011
info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

'May Close without warning...'


 My paintings and drawings are accompanied by some excerpts from "The Meanings of Deindustrialization" by Jefferson Cowie and Joseph Heathcott, Saint Louis University 2003  Faculty Publications - Collective Bargaining, Labor Law, and Labor History. Paper 33
Urban decay - Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett painting 'en plein air' at the White Bay Power Station
Painting 'en plein air'  "White Bay Power Station " 
2011 oil on canvas 102 x 152cm
Sold
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"The point of departure for any discussion of deindustrialization must be respect
for the despair and betrayal felt by workers as their mines, factories,
and mills were padlocked, abandoned, turned into artsy shopping spaces, or even dynamited."

Urban decay -  plein air oil painting of the White Bay Power Station by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"White Bay Power Station " 
2011 oil on canvas 102 x 152cm
Sold
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"While economists and business leaders often speak in neutral, even hopeful, terms such as "restructuring," "downsizing" or "creative destruction," metaphors of defeat and subjugation are more appropriate for the workers who banked on good-paying industrial jobs for the livelihoods of their families and their communities..."

Urban decay -  plein air oil painting of the White Bay Power Station by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting 'en plein air' 
"White Bay Power Station Chimney stacks"
2011 oil on canvas 51 x 25cm
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"
In fact, the first public use of the term "deindustrialization" identified the Allies' policy toward Germany just after World War II: an active process of victors stripping a vanquished nation of its industrial power."

Urban decay -  plein air oil painting of the White Bay Power Station by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"White Bay Power Station Coal Loader" 
2011 oil on board 35 x 28cm

























"The dramatic evidence of industrial change and capital flight that litters our landscapes does, however, present a basic collective problem: How do we account for the destruction of an economic order that seemed so rooted and pervasive?"

Urban decay -  plein air  charcoal drawing of the Cooperage CSR Refinery now Jacksons Landing Pyrmont by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Industrial Cathedral"
charcoal drawing on paper 131 x 131 cm 























This drawing was a finalist in the 1998 Dobell Prize for Drawing (Art Gallery of N.S.W.) ; Finalist in 1998 Blake Prize for Religious Art ; Winner of 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize
"In the end, what may be most troubling about these ruined industrial landscapes is not that they refer to some once stable era, but rather that they remind us of the ephemeral quality of the world we take for granted."

Industrial heritage - demolition of wharf 8 cruise ship terminal at Barangaroo plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
"Grabber, Muncher, Ripper"
2010 oil on canvas 31 x 31 cm

























Outside the derelict wharf, the demolition team waited patiently for all the preliminary drilling and checks to be completed before they got the green light to start.
The parrot beaks of the excavation attachments and their scarred and scaly skin reminded me of the animated re-creations of Tyrannosaurus rex.
These particular attachments are actually really called "Munchers"! The names of other attachments eg. "Buckets", "Grabbers", "Rippers" and "Pulverizers" are also reminiscent of comic books and children's toys.

"If Karl Marx was right in saying "all that is solid melts into air," then the industrial culture forged in the furnace of fixed capital investment was itself a temporary condition. What millions of working men and women might have experienced as solid, dependable, decently waged work really only lasted for a brief moment in the history of capitalism."

Industrial heritage - Blacksmiths at Eveleigh Railway Workshops  oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
"Dave and Lok forging at 'Wrought Artworks', Eveleigh Railway Workshops" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 46cm
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"Because capital was fixed in giant machines bolted to the floors of brick-and-mortar factories, the industrial culture that emerged in various places at various moments had an aura of permanence, durability, and heritage....."

Urban decay and Industrial heritage - charcoal and ink drawing of Mungo Scott Flour Mills Summer Hill by artist Jane Bennett
Panorama drawn from the top of the silos of the 
"Mungo Scott Flour Mills, Summer Hill" 
2010 charcoal, ink and gouache on paper 118 x 118cm


















The Operations of these flour mills have been transferred to Picton, on the periphery of the south western suburbs, about 2 years ago. Now this mill will be redeveloped into an apartment complex similar to other former mills in Dulwich Hill and Newtown.
Industrial heritage -Blacksmith Eveleigh Railway Workshops oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
"Forging chisels (Drawing down), 
'Wrought Artworks' Eveleigh Railway Workshops" 
2011 oil on canvas 122 x 152cm

"Working people saw in the decline of this industrial order the dissolution of their society, culture, and way of life, and the betrayal of their trust by those whose decisions shaped their fate."

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