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.

Friday 20 May 2011

Eveleigh - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 1

One door closes...
Early in 2012 renovations started on some parts of the interior and exterior of the Large Erecting Shop at Eveleigh. New wooden doors made to the original pattern and drawings replaced the corrugated iron doors on all 6 roads.
Wrought Artworks, the blacksmith's forge, in Bay 1/2 south of the ATP  had their massive wooden doors replaced.
ink and gouache painting of the windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'
2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.
I painted a series of paintings of the doors and windows of the Large Erecting Shop before their makeover.
ink and gouache painting of the windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'
2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm
I have mixed feelings - I loved the brooding atmosphere and quirky imperfections caused by decades of soot, industry and vandalism, yet I'm glad that at least a token gesture has been made to respecting and conserving the building's heritage.
ink and gouache painting of the windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'
2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.
Available
However, apart from fixing holes in the roof, the improvements seemed to be restricted to the purely cosmetic rather than structural - the power, lighting and water supply, which could well stand some serious improvements, didn't seem to be on the list.
ink and gouache painting of the windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'
2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm
The strange skeletal silhouettes against the windows are the relics of old train seats stacked madly against the grill!
Shapes would emerge and sink back into the gloom as railway workers opened and closed the doors.
ink and gouache painting of the windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'
2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.
Available 
In the darkness I could barely make out the forms of motley bits of decades of collected junk; a shelf of old batteries sitting on rotting pallets,a couple of seats, a carriage window with panes of smeared and broken glass. This is flanked by a nest of ladders -I thought at first there were snakes behind them, but instead there is a cluster of bits of pipe. Around the base of the ladder to the right lie a stack of old brakes, which at first sight resembled blocks of wood.
ink and gouache painting of the windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop'
2011 ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.
Available
But most of it is wonderfully incomprehensible and fabulously useless.
ink and gouache painting of the windows in the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E77 'The corner windows, Large Erecting Shop' 2011
ink/acrylic on paper 131 x 115cm.
Available
The finished painting in glorious monochrome.

Related posts

Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Irons in the fire - Part 6 -Better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick

A Tale of 2 Prizes
Just returned to Australia from my exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, to find a little box of acrylics, sketch books and other art paraphernalia that had been sitting on my doorstep unnoticed.
As well as winning actual money as 2nd prize at the Royal Easter Show, some kind sponsor had thrown in some art equipment as well.
I could easily go through all the paint in those little tubes in a single afternoon, but all donations gratefully received!
oil painting of blacksmith, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E83 'Blacksmith forging '2011 
ink pastel acrylic on paper 9 x 10cm  
WINNER 2nd Prize for Miniature Painting 
2011 Royal Easter Show
Sold 
PRIVATE COLLECTION : SYDNEY
Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

When you add the cash amount to the cost of the box of paints, this tiny little painting actually won more than double its price in prize money ! I wish I could keep that standard up for every painting!

oil painting of blacksmith, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'The Blacksmith' 2011
oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
PRIVATE COLLECTION : SYDNEY
Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com




















However, my other equally worthy contenders for prizes got nowhere. 
A thorn in my side has been the so-called "Plein Air Painting" Prize. I doubt that I will ever bother entering again.
As I am one of the very few genuine plein air painters in existence, who doesn't just paint small studies but lugs giant canvases around wharves, demolition sites and foundries, to the bemusement of hundreds of surprised wharfies, blacksmiths and demolition contractors,  I consider this art prize a farce. The trouble is that after decades of painting swiftly in adverse weather conditions in front of workmen and passers-by, my works just don't have that clumsy slapped together look demanded by the organizers. 
My works rarely have much 'studio intervention' other than simple repair work ( bird dirt, insect,twig and dust removal ; and removal of grubby fingerprints from carrying them awkwardly) They have been painted quickly, but as these might well be the only records of a particular event or even an entire location, they have to look as though time were not an issue, or the lack of time an excuse for bad painting. In other words, they have to compete on their merits. 
Ironically, the same works entered in the Plein Air Painting Prize (not the ones shown here by the way) had won art prizes elsewhere in which the painting process was not an issue.
Now I've had good works chucked out of countless other art prizes and just laughed about it - I take a philosophical attitude.
The funniest occasion was when my rather nice watercolour of the Spit Bridge got thrown out of the Royal Easter show, and, wanting to get it out of my lounge room, I put it in the Wynne Prize for Landscape for a bit of a laugh. It promptly won the Trustee's Prize for Watercolour and the Pring Prize  - the joke was that if it hadn't been chucked out of the Royal Easter Show I would never have thought of entering the Wynne.
In all my years of winning prizes and selling paintings at the Royal Easter Show, getting my painting thrown out was the biggest favour they ever did me!
So why does this particular art prize stick in my throat? Because it is a Plein Air Art Prize.
I have never had a work hung in this particular art prize where I am quite possibly one of its few genuine practitioners. And I probably never will.
I have been told that my works don't have the 'look' of having been painted 'en plein air'. Yet they are. To be regarded as 'credible' my paintings should be messier, more thickly painted, more indecisive,dumber, clumsier, more unfinished, with less ambitious perspective and simpler composition and design. I have paid the penalty for my painting skill.
The works should be smaller as well- this art prize has the strange size restriction of being geared towards vertical work, with a generous vertical height limit of 2m but a horizontal one of only 85cm.
Because "nobody paints large canvases 'en plein air' !"
The predictable result is a bias towards a vertical grid of little studies. Fine, but one of the valid aspects of landscape painting has always been the "sublime"- the feeling of being overawed and overwhelmed, even physically threatened by the landscape. In this art prize there is no room for the heroic.
In short you mustn't challenge their preconceptions of what a plein air painting is. And I have no use for work that toes the line and does the 'expected'. I have been punished for my temperament as well as my skill in painting.
 I've seen artists (usually amateurs) paint outdoors in parks, gardens or the rural environment. But in all my decades of painting I have never seen anyone except Tom Carment tackle the urban environment we all mostly actually live in, 'en plein air'. I can't help feeling that artists  indulge in escapism by going off for expensive weekend retreats to the bush for 'inspiration' instead of noticing the hidden beauty closer to home.
So today I will take my unloved and unbelieved paintings  from the art gallery loading dock, back to the wharf, construction site or foundry where they were created. At least the truck-drivers, wharfies and security guards who watched me paint them, know how to appreciate them.
And they certainly do.
These works have now all been sold.
oil painting of blacksmith, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
 E53 The Blacksmith Bay 1 Eveleigh
2011 oil on canvas 122 x 152cm
PRIVATE COLLECTION : SYDNEY
SOLD
Enquiries  : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Tuesday 10 May 2011

A good Korea move : Part 2 "Together in Harmony"



The exhibition "Together in Harmony for 50 years",was part of the celebration event for '50 years of Friendship Between Australia and Korea' at the Noori and Arum gallery in the Korea Foundation Cultural Centre in Seoul, Korea. The opening was on 4 -7pm Friday 29th April 2011 and the exhibition will continue until 17th May 2011.

I was one of 106 Australian and Korean-Australian artists invited to display one work in this major international exhibition. I was also one of the 40 artists invited to display a work in the Bom Gallery, in the Cheongdam-dong gallery precinct in Seoul.

Me, outside the Korea Foundation Cultural Centre, in front of the poster for the exhibition

My painting is in the centre of this photo, 2nd to the right of the man closely inspecting the exhibits. My work was hung in a very good position, almost directly opposite the entrance. But all the works were hung and lit beautifully- there were no bad positions.












Lost in Translation
K.W.A.S.S., the Korean Women's Art Society, had kindly provided my ticket, accommmodation and some spending money, in return for a seminar on my own  painting processes and techniques and a brief history of Australian Landscape Painting. 
This sounds deceptively easy, but it is a lot of ground to cover in an hour. Actually Robert Hughes, Elwynn Lynn, John McDonald and many other famous art critics and historians have tried valiantly to capture the essence of Australian Landscape Painting in less than 500 turgid pages and half a lifetime's study. And mostly failed just within sight of their goal, like so many other intrepid explorers lost in the Australian outback.
As well, I had to submit my entire talk several days before, so that it could be translated into Korean. I hadn't realised that this would be necessary, as I knew that someone would be available as a translator. So for the first couple of nights, jet-lagged as I was, I had to sit up until 3.30 am writing and re-writing my seminar. I realised that I had to cut down on slang or idiom to make it as coherent as possible for the translator,Kim Tae Eun. Trying to find a rational explanation of Sid Nolan and the Kelly myth in 25 words or less close to impossible. It would probably have been easier to learn Korean.
I wonder how "Such is life" translates...
Usually, I like to speak without notes, just referring to images for inspiration, while I work without a safety net! I couldn't do that here, so I hope that the information was interesting enough to make up for any lack of spontanaeity.

I also showed a few photos of me painting "en plein air" at Barangaroo, which the audience seemed to respond to. When in doubt show a picture.
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Friday 15 April 2011

Ghost ship - ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe - Part 2

HMAS Adelaide was decommissioned in 2008 and prepared for scuttling as a dive wreck during late 2009 and early 2010.
Her mast was removed, dangerous materials and toxins were removed, and access holes were cut in the ship's flanks.
She was originally intended to be sunk on 27 March 2010, 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) offshore from Avoca Beach, in 32 metres (105 ft) of water.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"The ex-HMAS Adelaide on Glebe Island wharf" 2010
oil on canvas 30 x 61 cm
Sold

By late 2009 the Baulderstone group had left the northern end of Glebe Island, leaving it clear for the ex- HMAS Adelaide.
At the southern end, the 'Thor Kis' arrived with cable which would later be laid under Port Botany.
McMahons Services started preparing the ex-HMAS Adelaide for scuttling, which was then earmarked for March 27th 2010.
Plein air oil Painting of salt truck and Thevenard from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
'Salt Truck at Glebe, with the 'Thevenard'
2010 oil on canvas
15 x 30cm
Sold

I painted some other interesting visitors to the wharf.
In this painting you can see the ex- HMAS Adelaide lurking in the background behind a giant mound of salt being poured on the wharf from the salt ship 'CSL Thevenard'. This salt was then loaded into trucks and driven down to chemical plants at Port Botany.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting the 'Adelaide' on the wharf
Available
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting the 'Adelaide' on the wharf
Available 
These 2 photos show me at work on the painting shown below. This large canvas, 61 x 183cm, really pushed the boundaries of what is physically possible in plein air painting.
When it became windy I would have to lie the canvas flat on the ground, or I would end up chasing it and my easel all over the wharf.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
My easel and palette - gone with the wind !
Painting Ex-HMAS Adelaide at
Glebe Island wharf en plein air

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe Island wharf -
plein air oil painting
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
Available

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"The ex-HMAS Adelaide on Glebe Island wharf"
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 183 cm

Available 
On the right hand side of this painting is the OES Barge. This finally left Glebe Island wharf for White Bay in June 2010, 1 day before leaving Sydney Harbour to lay cables under Botany Bay.
I had rushed to complete this, as some of the people on the wharf were quite interested in acquiring a work. I needn't have hurried, as a literally last minute decision pulled the plug on the scuttling.
Over a year of apparently interminable rolling legal action ensued before the end of the saga.
An appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by a local and vocal
protest group 3 days before the sinking saw the project placed on hold until the case can be heard in full.
The case was originally to have been heard on 5 May, but was then postponed to July.
Finally the federal judge, Justice Garry Downes, president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, approved the project but imposed stringent new conditions.
His decision ended a legal battle which had lasted almost six months. On 15 September, the Tribunal ruled that the scuttling of the ship could go ahead after the removal of any remaining wiring, canvas, insulation, and exfoliating red lead paint.
The delays caused by the tribunal hearing meant that instead of costing the original $5.8 million assigned to the scuttling project, the tribunal hearing, additional cleanup, and berthing fees brought the total cost to $8.5 million.
The ship was still there, looking a little forlorn until the dawn of April 11th when it embarked on its final triumphant journey to its final resting spot off North Avoca.

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide and tugs from Glebe Island Wharf  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"Ex HMAS Adelaide departing Glebe Island at dawn"
2011 oil on canvas 112 x 183cm
Available 
Her last journey, accompanied by the 'Woona'. The other tug was hidden by the bulk of the ship.
I met up with her again in Terrigal, a couple of days before the sinking and painted her last moments before her new life as an artificial reef.
There was a dramatic viewpoint of her from a rocky cove beneath the imposing "Skillion".

'Ex HMAS Adelaide from the 'Skillion' at sunset '2011
oil on canvas 15 x 30cm sold
PRIVATE COLLECTION : TERRIGAL

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"Ex HMAS Adelaide from the 'Skillion' the next morning"
2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm

Available
I also painted her from a lookout next to the surf club at North Avoca Beach.
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
"Ex HMAS Adelaide from North Avoca" 2011
oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

Available 
Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 13th April 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting "Ex HMAS Adelaide from North Avoca" 2011
oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Available

Ex HMAS Adelaide was finally successfully sunk at midday on Wednesday April 13th. As if all the previous nail biting suspense hadn't been enough, there was over an hour long wait for an inquisitive pod of dolphins to move out of the area.
I watched and sketched its final moments above water barely 300 metres away from Andrew MacMahon's huge white boat "Strictly Business, which you can see in the distance in the painting below.
The next day I painted the same spot where the ship had been from the same vantage point next to the Skillion.

Plein air oil Painting of the Adelaide from North Avoca 13th April 2011 ''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal  painted by industrial heritage Jane Bennett
Painting the Adelaide from North Avoca 13th April 2011
''Strictly Business' from the 'Skillion' Terrigal
(Adelaide underwater) '
oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Available 
For a long time it had seemed as though the ship would remain in limbo.
All the drama was worth it in the end.
It has succeeded as an artificial reef beyond the wildest dreams of its creators.
Recently I was painting a commission at Chowder Bay, Clifton Gardens, which is the headquarters of SIMS, the Sydney Harbour Institute of Marine Science. The marine scientists raved for hours about the wonderful diversity and abundance of marine species newly inhabiting the artificial reef.

Related Posts

Ghost ship - ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe - Part 1




See my Hungry Mile page in this blog

For more paintings and information about the ex-HMAS Adelaide:

See my White Bay Wharf / Glebe island Wharf page in this blog

Ghost ship - ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe - Part 1

Marine Art-plein air oil painting of ex HMAS Adelaide at Glebe Island Wharf by marine and industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Ex HMAS Adelaide arrives at Glebe Island wharf' 
2009 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Available
















The HMAS Adelaide had a varied career-  the Australian response to the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, Iraq invasion of Kuwait, Indonesian riots in May 1998, the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, the War in Afghanistan, and the United States-led invasion of Iraq.
She rescued 2 competitors  in the 1996–97 Vendee Globe solo round-the-world yacht race when in January 1997, the yachts of Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore capsized. 
Her most notorious moment was in 2001 when she intercepted a boat known as SIEV 4 carrying suspected illegal immigrants, now known as the 'Children overboard affair'.
Marine Art-plein air oil painting of ex HMAS Adelaide at Glebe Island Wharf by marine and industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Action men' 2009 
oil painting on canvas 31 x 31cm

The men from 'Action Cranes' start to remove railings in the first sign of the flurry of activity to come.
I painted close up details of the men at work, as well as a panorama of the ship positioned between the pillars of the Anzac Bridge, with its strings providing a dramatic counterpoint to the mast. 
Marine Art-plein air oil painting of ex HMAS Adelaide at Glebe Island Wharf by marine and industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
'Action men' 2009 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
COLLECTION : ACTION CRANES
Enquiries about similar paintings- janecooperbennett@gmail.com

At this stage the ship was at the southern end of the wharf.
At the northern end, I had been painting Baulderstone Hornibrook's construction of a screed and shear leg for the Port Botany Expansion Project. I became  frustrated at middle management's mindless onerous conditions while painting this project, which seemed designed to prevent me painting anything interesting without  helping anyone's health or safety.

Marine Art-plein air oil painting of ex HMAS Adelaide at Glebe Island Wharf by marine and industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
 'Action cranes with the Adelaide' 
2009 oil on canvas 38 x 76cm
Available
As a plein air painter who has been used to painting under conditions that would scare most artists out of 10 years growth, it takes a lot to annoy or frustrate me! Coping with Baulderstone's minions was too much like beating my head against a brick wall for me to continue painting their project, but it was a blessing in disguise.
I had no idea how gripping the saga of the ex-HMAS Adelaide would become.
On the extreme left hand side of the last painting in this post is a strange contraption with white columns. This was a drill rig starting exploratory drilling for the ill-fated Sydney Metro project, which was finally shelved in early 2010 after a great deal of controversy.
Soon the controversy surrounding the scuttling of the ex-HMAS Adelaide would even rival the debate over the Metro!