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Talking Heads

Image source Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)

Artist: Andrew Miller

Asset Type: Sculpture, Metalwork

Year of Work: 2003

Location: Small Reserve, North Eastern Corner, Hay and Thomas Street intersection

Provenance: City of Perth

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Penrose's Impossible Triangle

Image source Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)

Artist: Brian McKay, Ahmad Abas

Asset Type: Sculpture

Year of Work: 1999

Location: Roundabout, intersection of Royal, Brook and East Parade, East Perth

Provenance: City of Perth

Description: “In 1999 DENMAC had the honour of working with leading WA artist Brian McKay and architect Ahmad Abas on creating the iconic “Impossible Triangle” art installation situated in East Perth. The art installation was part of the East Perth Redevelopment Project which sought to convert 38 hectares of industrial land into a liveable suburb adjacent to the Perth CBD. At the time this was the largest urban renewal project undertaken in WA.

In 1997, Brian McKay and Ahmad Abas submitted their design for the major commission in which they were successful. Inspired by the Penrose triangle first articulated by the Swedish artist, Oscar Reutersvard the “Impossible Triangle” sits a massive 13.5 metres high and has remained an East Perth landmark for 20 years.

DENMAC was responsible for the design, fabrication and installation. The polished steel striations reflect both artificial light and sunlight, dramatically changing between sunrise and sunset a feature we achieved for the first time on this project.

Working on a project of this magnitude presents its pressures and difficulties however our experience in working with similar structures fully equipped us to ensure a structure was built that would withstand the elements and test of time.” -DENMAC

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Percy Buttons

Image source Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)

Artist: Joan Walsh-Smith, Charles Smith

Asset Type: Sculpture, Memorial

Year of Work: 2006

Location: Hay Street Mall, Southern side, East of London Court

Provenance: City of Perth

Description: Inscription reads:

“Percy Button was a local street entertainer and one of Perth's best known faces from the 1920's to the 1950's. Performing somersaults and handstands, Percy entertained people for a few shillings while they waited to see films, newsreels and theatrical performances at the theatres that were concentrated in what is now the Hay Street Mall, the Theatre Royal, the Ambassador and His Majesty's Theatre.

Percy was renowned for his grubbiness and in November 1929 local newspaper, The Mirror, dressed Percy up in a long-tailed suit and ran a front page competition asking readers to guess the identity of the cleaned up man. The Mirror offered a guinea's worth of goods for the first opened letter giving the man's name. The newspaper later asked Percy to write the 1929 Centenary Christmas Message.

This artwork celebrates the spirit of the street.”

Launched by the Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor  Dr. Peter Nattress
12 October 2006The sculpture commemorates street entertainer Percy Button (1892 - 1954) and celebrates the spirit of the street.  

Percy Button emigrated from England to Western Australia in 1910 and worked at odd jobs and as a farmhand. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F) in World War One but was invalided home and discharged in 1918.

He took to a vagrant life in Perth, sometimes earning a living by selling newspapers and collecting bottles, but soon becoming the city's best-known street entertainer. Neither the 1930s Depression nor World War Two made much difference to Button's style of living, but, as age slowed his acrobatic prowess and he added the mouth-organ to his repertoire. 

By 1951 his condition had so deteriorated that arrangements were made for his admission to the Old Men's Home at Dalkeith. He died of coronary thrombosis on 5 March 1954 at Claremont Mental Hospital and was buried in Karrakatta cemetery with Catholic rites. The Repatriation Department paid for his funeral. 

Visit: monumentaustralia

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Memory Markers

Artist: Anne Neil

Asset Type: Sculpture

Year of Work: 2006

Location: South Western Entrance to Stirling Gardens, intersection of Barrack Street and The Esplanade

Provenance: City of Perth

Description: In the late nineteenth century the gardens flourished.  

On 24 November, 1898, the West Australian newspaper described the grounds as having "Well kept lawns, covered with soft spongy sward tempt the visitor to laze luxuriously on the couch spread so invitingly , while around him on every side are trim, well-kept beds of flowers, divine is shape, brilliant in bloom, delicious in perfume, and varying the more generally known forms with many that are rare and equally beautiful. Well laid out paths wind in and about the trees and lawns, and everywhere care, intelligence, skill and a remarkable capability for extracting every possible advantage out of a small means are apparent."

In 2006, the City of Perth Art Foundation commissioned artist Anne Neill, in collaboration with landscape architects Blackwell & Associates and heritage consultant Barbara Dundas to design an artwork for this entry to Stirling Gardens.

This sculpture `Memory Markers` was inspired by the early recording of memories about Stirling Gardens. The shapes are based on the familiar ink dipping nib which expresses the esssence of the Victorian Era on which the original formal planting patterns were based

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Kangaroos (Phase 1)

Image source Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)

Artist: Joan Walsh-Smith, Charles Smith

Asset Type: Sculpture

Year of Work: 1996

Location: St Georges Terrace, Southern side, near Stirling Gardens

Provenance: City of Perth

Description: These life size bronze kangaroos are a realistic representation of how kangaroos might behave in the bush. You can imagine the mob being startled from its quiet feeding by the sound of traffic and bounding away, led by the large male. The sight of the kangaroos bounding at full speed along the pavement of St George’s Terrace makes a surprising contrast to the backdrop of the CBD.

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Baba Yaga Houses

Image source City of Perth

Artist: Marwa Fahmy

Asset Type: Sculpture

Year of work: 2012

Location: Central Instritute of Technology, to East of Entrance to Building 2, Aberdeen Street, near Museum Street, Northbridge.

Provenance: Metropolitan
Redevelopment Authority.
Now City of Perth Public Art Collection.

Baba Yaga Houses are a suite of whimsical, brightly coloured sculptures by West Australian artist Marwa Fahmy, installed at Museum Park in the North Metropolitan TAFE precinct of Northbridge.

Comprising of three individual but complimentary sculptural elements, Baba Yaga Houses draw inspiration from the Russian fairy-tale of Baba Yaga, and depicts Baba as a ferocious-looking old woman who flies around the forest in a mortar wielding a pestle, who lives deep in the forest in a ghoulish hut mounted on chicken legs.

According to Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter or seek her out and even play a maternal role. She is enigmatic with striking beauty and a deep connection to forestry wildlife.

Fahmy’s fairy tale houses are rendered in cast and engraved aluminium and reinforced internally by powder-coated steel; the tallest stands at 3.2 metres and the lowest at 2.4 metres high. The engraved aluminium bodies are wildly patterned.

Commissioned as part of the Museum Street Precinct Park Public Art Project, comprising a public art competition, the project was jointly run by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) and Central Institute of Technology (Central) - now North Metropolitan TAGE.


At the time of installation, Marwa said “I wanted to introduce a design that would be quirky, fun and express the multiculturalism found in the area”. City of Perth Public Art Collection

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Shimmer

Image source Eugene Scrivener (Museum of Perth)

Artist: Jurek Wybraniec, Stephe Neille

Asset Type: Sculpture

Year of Work: 2012

Location: Top of stairs from South Western side of carpark at Eastern end of Brown Street, East Perth

Provenance: City of Perth

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