media release
The Hole Truth
An artist-built minigolf course
Nowa Nowa is a tiny town with a big reputation for its highly acclaimed – and much loved – community and public art projects.
Just 15 minutes east of Lakes Entrance, it is easy to underestimate the impact that this small arts community has had on East Gippsland’s arts profile. [But please don’t! ]
Nowa Nowa’s latest project – The Hole Truth- is an artist-built minigolf course. In reality, it is more sculpture park than strictly minigolf – but anyone who loves the ingenuity of artists and sculptors will appreciate this work of art in the landscape.
The park has been more than 12 months in the making and is due to launch on Melbourne Cup Weekend , with peak festivities ( a little food and song) planned for Saturday 31 October at 2pm till dusk.
Everyone is welcome to join us – to meet the artists, putt the course, share a kebab, enjoy the music and watch the sun go down on what has been a huge labour of love for many, many East Gippsland artists.
The project, funded by Arts Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria, has commissioned nine artists to create a golf ‘hole’ that tells a little something about East Gippsland life.
Local artists include Gary Yelen (of Nowa Nowa) as the lead artist pulling the whole project together, as well as: Daniel Jenkins (sculptor, Metung) , Colin Brimblecombe (furniture designer and guitar maker, Nungurner) , Heather Johnson (ceramicist and sculptor, Buchan), Cynthia Boyle (fine artist, Marlo), Gary Belskyj (blacksmith and steam punk afficionado, Tambo Upper), Chris Ciemcoch (new media artist, Tambo), and Richard Cooke (film maker, and sound engineer, Buchan). The works range from big metal, to rolling ball , to sculpted hebel , to the virtual - all dotted throughout a hand-hewn community vegie garden.
The project’s most recent hole –The Devils Hole (in-one) -has been created by one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary artists, Cameron Robbins.
Cameron is well known for his Double Vortex sculpture which was commissioned by the City of Melbourne’s CH2 (Council House 2); his extraordinary Depot project created during the decommissioning of Dandenong’s Grenda bus depot,[ featured on the ABC’s Sunday Arts Program]; and his Solar System sculpture on the StKilda foreshore which is a 1:1 billion scale model of the solar system, wrapping 5.9 kilometres around Port Phillip Bay.
Part artist, part scientist, part engineer and part alchemist, Robbins’ kinetic sculpture will bring another exciting dimension to this already fabulous project.
Cameron Robbins’ brief has been to interpret the geology, history, biology and/or anthropology of Lake Tyers – one of East Gippsland’s most iconic and beautiful lakes – in the form of a golf hole!
The Hole Truth project will officially open on Melbourne Cup Weekend with music and minigolf on the Saturday afternoon (31 October). It’s just one of the highlights of the Seldom Seen Art Trail happening on that weekend across eight community artspaces in Bairnsdale, Metung, Nungurner, Lakes Entrance, Nowa Nowa, Orbost, Marlo and Buchan.
Contact: Andrea Lane
Phone: 03 5155 7277 or 0438 352 370
Email: andrealane@bigpond.com
