Reflect Project
November – December 2020
Lead artist: Yandell Walton
Artist participants: Shruti Randive, Pedro Osorio, Kate Vucak, Jennifer Guingab and Joanna Aqili
The Drum Theatre, Corner of Lonsdale and Walker Street, Dandenong
In late 2020, five young emerging artists captured their experience throughout the second COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne. The artists came from a range of different backgrounds and represented different levels of the student experience, from year 10 at high school to college and university. Across six weeks, established artist Yandell Walton led the participants through artistic challenges and activities via online webcam. The participants were challenged to respond to different themes relevant to the experience of being a young person impacted by social isolation due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The resulting work was curated into a digital work by Walton and projected onto the windows on the Drum Theatre. This was the first experience the young emerging artists had of developing a public art outcome. This project aimed to nurture local artistic talent and formed part of a suite of programs designed to raise the profile of Greater Dandenong as a cultural destination.
Boyd Lane by Brett Ashby
November 2019 – February 2021
Boyd Lane, Dandenong
Brett Ashby’s artwork along Boyd Lane references Dandenong’s history and status as a centre of commerce and trade. Boyd Lane is named after the Boyd family, who ran the Gippsland Hardware Company adjacent to the lane.
Brett Ashby used key words to link the lane with the past, including “Golden Mile” referring to Lonsdale Street’s past as a centre of economic activity, and the currency of the time. The artwork’s style follows that of “The Cube” which Ashby painted in 2017 on the former substation on Halpin Way.
Boyd Lane is an important pedestrian link between Lonsdale Street and Dandenong Plaza, used by around 8,500 people per week. By adding mural art to its facades, a stroll down Boyd Lane is now a more enjoyable experience. We also know that laneways which look interesting and cared for are also safer and stay cleaner.
Aspects of Healthy Bay Wetlands by Baden Johnson
April 2018 - January 2021
Pocket Park between Palm Plaza and Lonsdale Street, Dandenong
Aspects of Healthy Bay Wetlands by Baden Johnson has created an immersive landscape experience for users of the pocket park that links Palm Plaza and the main street in Dandenong. The area has some of the highest pedestrian movement due to its proximity to the Market.
The 20 metre long panorama transforms the space using spray painted imagery of tree lined grass lands, wetlands and the Dandenong creek.
Baden explains ‘The artwork is a reminder of the natural world in our contemporary urban environment.” Passers-by will be immersed in a tranquil natural setting.
Mahatma Gandhi Murial by Julian Clavijo
2018
Halpin Way (former substation), Little India Cultural Precinct, central Dandenong.
The Mahatma Gandhi mural created by artist Julian Clavijo was commissioned to coincided with the Melbourne Immigration Museum’s digital exhibition titled “Mahatma Gandhi: An Immigrant”, on tour from Hyderabad, India.
Surrounded by a diverse array of colours representing India's many cultures, this mural puts Gandhi back on the streets to share a message of non-violence and peace.
Community United by Eddie Botha
Ongoing from February 2018 – January 2019
Thomas Street multi-deck car park, Thomas Street, Dandenong
Community United, by accomplished Melbourne artist Eddie Botha is an artwork of highly detailed drawings celebrating people, society, local symbols and everyday life.
Harmony Tree by Jasmine Grace
Ongoing from August 2017 – April 2018
Douglas Street (Opposite Post Office), Noble Park
With more than 700 small bells of different sizes Harmony Tree by artist Jasmine Grace, provides an immersive sound installation on two trees on Douglas Street, Noble Park. Hear the bells ringing as they are activated by the blowing of the wind singing a song of unity amongst diversity and creating a gathering place of peace, respect and celebration of multiculturalism within the community.
Cubed Square by Brett Ashby
Ongoing from July 2017
Between Halpin Way and Settlers Square, Dandenong
Local artist Brett Ashby has worked with local students from Dandenong Primary School to bring his artwork 'Transformed' to life. Once a disused substation, the artwork is now a colourful point of interest featuring positive and up-lifting phrases selected by the students.
Upside-Down by Julian Clavijo
June 2017 - June 2019
Warwick Avenue car park, Springvale
'Upside-Down' is inspired by notions of childhood reminding us to embrace the ‘child like’ feeling that resides in all people and to view the world through a child’s eye; filled with natural happiness, an innate sense of innocence and spontaneity. This temporary installation by Julian Clavijo has transformed the otherwise unattractive United Energy sub-station located at the Warwick Avenue car park in Springvale.
The work titled 'Upside-Down' is a pedestrian focussed work that seeks to engage with people as they arrive at one of Springvale's more popular car parking destinations in Warwick Avenue. The work spotlights an otherwise undervalued and unattractive site of the United Energy substation and transforms it into the jewel in the crown within the car park.
The artwork involved local Springvale Rise Primary School Students by being the subject of the fun portraits and through painting part of the mural alongside the artist. The installation titled “Upside-Down” is inspired by notions of childhood reminding us to embrace the ‘child like’ feeling that resides in all people and to view the world through a child’s eye; filled with natural happiness, an innate sense of innocence and spontaneity.
Gold Bling by Martin George
May 2015 - February 2021
Halpin Way, Dandenong
‘Gold Bling’ by artist Martin George comprises a long chain being draped along low, grey landscaping walls on Halpin Way, shining brilliantly in a deep ruddy yellow burnished gold. The work invokes ostentatious jewellery on an industrial scale.
Each link of the chain is 50cm long, 30cm wide and each link weighing more than 80 kilos. Gold Bling has the physical presence to actively engage the large open space of Halpin Way. The chain starts at the foot of a park bench before crawling over a low wall, through a small garden and to the foot of a nearby lamp post.
Just as the chain approaches the lamp post the repetition of links are broken with the final length snapped. The gold chain represents new money, the new Dandenong. But in another way, chains bind things together and so old and new Dandenong are bound together, their fates shared. Chains also bear tension. The tension is acknowledged, but the chain, like the community and the town, will bear the tension and remain together.
Pixel People by Ash Nolan
2015 – 2016
Various locations around Dandenong
Located across Central Dandenong, 'Pixel People' is a series of temporary installations of smiling faces, featuring local people and residents. From a distance the works are remarkably detailed and as you draw close they abstract into small blocks of colour or 'pixels'.
Day and Night by Julian Clavijo
August 2013 – August 2016
Thomas Street multi-deck car park (lifts), 238 Thomas Street, Dandenong
The installation offers a new and visually tantalising elevator ride where passengers are encouraged to relax and forget the stresses of daily life.
No Fence for Dreams by Julian Clavijo
Ongoing from July 2013
Thomas Street Multi-deck Car Park (Exterior), 238 Thomas Street, Dandenong
Julian Clavijo uses the structure of the car park and its architectural façade to explore notions of veiling.
The artwork is a dynamic transformation of an undervalued and easily overlooked space through the use of vivid colour. Best experienced through an up close walk by the site, this full-colour representation of joy, surprise and pride links audiences with the building and awakens pedestrian interest in discovering the city’s hidden gems.
Hope and Optimism by Nick Ilton
Ongoing from May 2013 – September 2017
Ewart Lane, Dandenong
This project features two “bill boards” measuring 1.2 metres. the two messages are read together, they balance each other, yet read separately, the message of each is quite different.
Imag_ne by Emma Anna
February 2013 - present, Multicultural Place, Springvale
April 2012 - November 2012, Noble Park Civic Space
October 2011 - March 2012, Dandenong Park, Dandenong
May 2011 – September 2011, Springvale Civic Space
October 2010 – April 2011, Oakwood Park, Noble Park
April 2010 – September 2010, Palm Plaza, Dandenong
A contemporary artwork by Emma Anna, Imag_ne became a unique roving public art commission. The work was composed of large scrabble letters that appeared to spell out the word ‘imagine’, although the second ‘I’ of the word is missing.
The word ‘imagine’ promoted the envisaging of something new, different, or wonderful - making this work in the City of Greater Dandenong both timely and appropriate.
Measured Loss by Robbie Rowlands
Ongoing from 2012 – 2017
Through a series of precise cuts, the artist gently reconfigures existing utilitarian objects that exist at the fringes of our awareness into poetic forms. The process is not one of violence, rather there is a sense of redemption, as if the object has been liberated from forgetfulness.
Street Pests by Sayraphim Lothian
2012 – 2013
Various locations throughout Dandenong
Street Pests brings to focus the living creatures of the city that are opportunistic users and occupiers of small spaces. The life sized animals including pigeons and rats are made from delicately patterned fabric and are attached to hand rails, awnings, conduits and brackets.
Night Worker by Robbie Rowlands
Ongoing from 2012 – 2017
250 Thomas Street, Dandenong (rear of Chemist Warehouse)
Robbie Rowlands is known for mediating the boundaries between the fabricated and natural world in his work. Night Worker pays homage to the work performed by the city's utilitarian objects and public infrastructure. These mass produced and functional designs are softened and framed in terms of a new aesthetic, giving the object a renewed energy or sensibility.
I'm on my Way Down by Robbie Rowlands
Ongoing from 2012
Thomas Street Multi-deck Car Park (Level 5), 238 Thomas Street, Dandenong
Through a series of precise cuts, this bollard departs from the rhythm of the car park expressed rigidly aligned concrete columns and repetitive architectural structures.
Through Rowlands carefully considered reconfiguring of the bollard, audiences are invited to see the object as an entirely new form or to read it back into its former self. In doing so, the opportunity exists to reflect on the wider process of change.
Chromablitz by Rowena Martinich
May 2012 – May 2014
Dandenong Market, Drum Theatre and Thomas Street multi-deck car park, Dandenong
Chromablitz injects a much needed burst of impulsive energy and bright luminous colour into three landmark sites in Dandenong. Using glass as a canvas to enliven the pedestrian corridor between the station and the market, to create a light filled journey. The abstract strokes and iridescent colours are illuminated differently according to the weather and the time of day.
Eslimi by Kosar Majani
Ongoing from 2011 – 2019
Thomas Street multi-deck car park (rooftop), 238 Thomas Street, Dandenong
Persian artist Kosar Majani's work focuses on pattern as a way of reflecting on culture and history in two countries. The over sized patterns are opportunistically placed in the windows of the roof top lift well. Visible from the street both day and night, the work illuminates at night. The artist has taken inspiration from the local Afghan Bazaar cultural precinct to create a fusion of Persian patterns in a modern day setting.
Dispense by Nick Ilton
September 2011 – 2016
Ewart Lane, Dandenong
'Dispense' features three wall mounted mock vending machines that elude to dispense items whose value and meaning has changed over the last few decades through commoditisation, saturation, commercialisation, or all three.
The Utilitarian by Robbie Rowlads
September 2011-September 2013
Palm Plaza Pocket Park, Lonsdale Street Dandenong
Melbourne based artist Robbie Rowlands created this extraordinary site responsive sculpture 'The Utilitarian'. Commissioned in 2011, the work rested in a compact park between the press of buildings that connects Lonsdale Street and Palm Plaza in Dandenong.
The Utilitarian altered a pale blue street lamp decommissioned from service in Lonsdale Street in 2010. No longer towering overhead, the former rigidity of the street lamp was collapsed in a sensuous fluid motion. In its retired state, the pole rested with light arms stretched out to meet the ground as if this was a long awaited dream. No longer lighting, but now touching the path.
The work was a means to reflect on the experience of the evolving character of the street. Sited on a key pedestrian route between the market and the train station, the park was now a place invigorated by the spontaneity of the unexpected.
Brick Wall by Zac St Clair
January 2011 – 2016
Ewart Lane, Dandenong
'Brick Wall' uses road signs as its source of inspiration to label the seemingly obvious - a brick wall. It explores society's preoccupation for signs and the need to provide directions, labels and warnings for almost everything in the public realm.
Boyd's Hall by Clare McCracken
2011
Boyd Lane, Dandenong
This suburbia-inspired, nostalgic artwork provided a glimpse into a typical suburban hallway scene of a 1950’s home.
Featuring three oversized plaster ducks against a subtle wall paper pattern, the work cleverly leveraged off the ‘lounge’ and ‘kitchen’ seating projects in Palm Plaza and builds on the theme of bringing the familiar domestic environment outdoors.
Boyd Lane is an important pedestrian connection between Lonsdale Street and Palm Plaza and this artwork made walking through one of Dandenong's many short cuts a unique experience. The artwork offered a surprising and delightful encounter in an otherwise dull, grey environment.
Home Comforts by Hannah Ryan and Sharron Okines
2011
Thomas Street car park and Walker Street car park, Dandenong
Home Comforts took inspiration from the familiar domestic environment, giving the general public a new vantage point whilst inside Dandenong's car park elevators.
Through Ryan’s peek at a ravishingly vibrant and unique restroom she asked us to explore the public privacy of toilets and lifts including the unpredictability of what lies on the other side of the doors. In each instance you entered a shared and intimate space, wait outside for your turn.
Through the sharing of Okines’s contented domestic situation and notion of comfort, you were invited to step into a warm relaxing place in front of a roaring fire. As you enjoyed the feeling of being wrapped in cosiness the familiarity of this domestic environment became apparent through the details within the room.
Aviary by Clare McCracken
2010 – 2012
Thomas Street multi-deck car park, 238 Thomas Street, Dandenong
Aviary continued the use of the budgie who rose to fame through the popular lift (elevator) projects.
Aviary incorporated rich patterning usually reserved for suburban interiors, with the familiar house hold pet the budgie, to totally transform a high profile area near the lifts.
Aviary brought life and colour into unexpected public spaces.
Re-enactment by Ben Cittadini
2010
Thomas Street multi-deck car park and Walker Street multideck car park, Dandenong
Share your ride in the lift with Colin and Iris and enter the mirrored fluorescence of a place and time, outside of time.
Surrounded in the serene beauty of tropical plants, pale pink, plastic and mirrored fluorescents you entered an oasis of calm in a rapidly changing environment.
Pondering the gesture of ‘time’, that of ‘old’ and ‘new’ and the ambiguities of these notions in the flux of revitalization, Colin and Iris offered a confrontational gaze of people from a past time and are a reminder of the layering of space.
Re-enactment offered a new and visually tantalising elevator ride that invites passengers to contemplate beyond the normality of daily life.
Budgie by Clare McCracken
2009
Thomas Street multi-deck car park, Dandenong
The much loved budgie that shared the daily lift journey with patrons for eight months in 2008/9 and became a familiar, untouched symbol of peoples’ love of the lift returned in 2009.
The installation elevated the budgie to centre stage and continues the experience of a rich interior offering unexpected colour, texture and opulence. A near by birdcage provides a clue to more observant patrons of this continuing story.
The installation offered a new and visually tantalising elevator ride where passengers are encouraged to relax and forget the stresses of daily life.
Conversations with Persian Wall by Kosar Majani
June – December 2009
Thomas Street multi-deck car park, Dandenong
The textured pattern wall is inspired by the technique of Aboriginal dot painting combined with traditional Persian patterns from Iran.
The simple materials of everyday found objects take centre stage to create a dynamic entrance feature.
Suburban Edge by Ian de Gruchy
Winter 2009 and 2010
Corner Scott and Thomas Streets, Dandenong
An eight storey building at the corner of Scott and Thomas Streets in central Dandenong was the focal point for a monstrous temporary art projection.
The 2009 winter art projection featured suburban facades from photos taken in the Dandenong area. These familiar houses are the iconic symbols of life in the suburbs. They span from the familiar concrete porthole verandahs of a typical commission home to the newly constructed ‘mc mansions’ that are fast replacing earlier post war homes.
This project has now gone on to become part of Nocturnal, an arts festival held annually in June. The program is held in association with internationally renowned projection artist Ian de Gruchy and can be seen nightly after dusk from all across Dandenong.
Digital Windows Art Gallery
Monthly rotations throughout 2009
Palm Plaza display windows, McCrae Street, Dandenong
Digital Windows Art Gallery was an initiative by local artists to promote digital art in Dandenong. Artists and students from Chisholm Institute presented a range of art over a six month program to include digital photography, digital painting and mixed media artwork.
The first exhibition presented the work of Kosar Majani. Other artists exhibiting include Yvonne Picot, Elaine Jewers, Charlotte and Leanne Roberts, David Trout and Sylvia Rylie-King. The gallery had street access and is available for viewing 24 hours a day.
Quarter Acre by Clare McCracken
December 2008 – May 2009
Walker Street multideck car park, Dandenong
The aesthetics of Australia’s suburbs have changed dramatically. As land runs short block sizes are getting smaller and houses significantly larger. These shifts, a nation wide drought and significant water restrictions, have affected the suburban garden.
In light of the changing face of suburbia, Quarter Acre was a nostalgic look at the suburban garden - a type of TARDIS that invites us back into a world of the heavily watered, perpetually groomed and sizable yard.
LIFT OFF 1973 by Clare McCracken
July 2008 – April 2009
Thomas Street multi-deck car park, Dandenong
LIFT OFF 1973 took inspiration from a 1970’s suburban interior. Bathed in the bright orange glow of 1973 traveller had to get ready to once again feel a shag pile between their toes.
Car park users rode back to the glorious days of contrasting designs, bright colours and geometric patterns as inspired by Connie DoddsDevitt’s book Complete Home Decorating published in 1973.
All Walks by Ashley Nolan
March 2008 – June 2009
Ewart Lane, Dandenong
This much loved artwork depicted a range of characters including mums with prams, older people and even dogs all making their way along the street.
The stencil artwork was cleverly created using stencils and was visible from the entrance to Ewart Lane off Walker Street.
Love is Blind by Ashley Nolan
February 2008 – June 2009
Thomas Street multi-deck car park, Dandenong
Something more sinister was at play on closer inspection of a seemingly peaceful wall painting by artist Ashley Nolan. Two love birds – blinded by love, hadn’t noticed they were being preyed upon by a nearby cat.
The work was cleverly created using stencils and was visible from the entrance to the Thomas Street multi-deck car park.
Car Culture and the Great Australian Dream
December 2008
Thomas Street multi-deck car park and Walker Street multideck car park, Dandenong
A series of paste ups featuring advertising slogans and images of cars from the 1960’s, 70’s and beyond were reconfigured into a new art form providing surprise and delight to car park users.
Old advertising material had been reconfigured into a new art form through their composition and placement providing surprise and delight to car park users.
The artworks in the stairwell took people back to memories of their first car and the great open road, when car ownership was as much a part of the Australian lifestyle as owning a home.
Depot - Moved by Grenda's
7 - 13 April 2008
Old Grenda’s Bus Depot, 9 Foster Street, Dandenong
In 1945, George Grenda started a bus company in Dandenong from the site at 9 Foster Street. More than half a century later in 2008 the Grenda Corporation relocated their operations to a new site south of the railway line.
Depot was an installation of contemporary artworks created by seven artists at the decommissioned Grenda’s bus depot. Depot was open for one week in April prior to the site being demolished. The artworks, which were made on site, responded to the industrial spaces of the historic depot and pre-empted its demolition.
The project provided an opportunity for the community to stop, look, listen and experience the spaces that have housed an iconic Dandenong business for more than 50 years. Present and former staff and the broader community were invited to relive and honour a celebrated workspace, and in doing so witness the skills of artists transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.
LIFT by Clare McCracken
December 2007 – April 2009
Thomas Street multi-deck car park, Dandenong
LIFT offered car park users a new and visually alluring elevator ride where contrasting colours and patterns took inspiration from early Victorian homestead architecture.
Rich colours, patterns of Florence Broadhurst's wallpapers (Australia's first wallpaper designer) and Howard Arkley's nostalgic images of suburbia filled the space with contrasting colour and subliminal pattern.
The Affirmation Board by Clare McCracken
1 – 22 October 2007
Dandenong Station, Lonsdale Street and Palm Plaza, Dandenong
Everyone needs a little affirmation...The Affirmation Board used a PSM message sign, an object that is regularly seen within Greater Dandenong due to the construction of East Link and other redevelopment works.
However, there was a twist! The Affirmation Board featured personalised and positive messages for pedestrians that change daily, bringing a smile to those who encounter it.
Afterlife by Julie Shiels
5 September 2007 – 16 October 2007
Dandenong Plaza windows, McCrae Street, Dandenong
This Dandenong Plaza retail window usually reserved for high fashion hosted an intriguing art installation of pyjamas made from discarded mattresses.
Having once formed the bed of a person or persons unknown, they embodied memories of other lives – from the intimate site of dreams and nightmares, passion and loneliness, birth and death.
The installation evolved from an earlier project where the artist Julie Shiels stencilled discarded furniture with truisms, quotes and stories. Over time she began noticing the quality, texture and design of the fabric coverings and began salvaging mattresses for redemption.
Market by Chris Dowd
24 July 2007 – 28 August 2007
Dandenong Plaza windows, McCrae Street, Dandenong
Dandenong Market, Victoria’s oldest market, based in Dandenong, attracts hundreds of people each week to grab a bargain and be part of the colourful and cosmopolitan market life.
Artist Chris Dowd said "We all know its great value but its the way shoppers and stall holders share a laugh that gives me a special feeling like I belong here. One needs only to stroll through the market to see this. I love coming to the Dandy market, why don’t you join me?"
In this display, photographer Chris Dowd captured images of real people enjoying the market life.
Glorious Food! by Kate Weeks, Marynes Avila, Clare McCracken, Jenny Saulwick, Anna Brown
1 June 2007 – 17 July 2007
Dandenong Plaza windows, McCrae Street, Dandenong
Glorious Food! has inspired four artists and a chef to create windows that celebrate one of life’s essential ingredients - food.
Kate Weeks’ work features the flamboyant Carmen Miranda, who turned food into fashion with her trademark hats covered in food, flowers and feathers.
In contrast All Time Favourites by Marynes Avila presents an exotic mix of 65 universal ingredients portraying the concept of the cook becoming an alchemist, blending ingredients and providing food for the soul.
Market Day by Clare McCracken celebrates the rich language that is used to sell and buy fresh produce from the market, while Drapes Aromatique by Jenny Saulwick (artist) and Anna Brown (chef) seeks to evoke the deliciously magical use of spices both today and historically, through drapes and spice sacks to portray some of the colours, tastes and aromas created when using spices in cooking.
Essence by Helen Pollard, Wendy Black, Sue Jarvis and Antonella Ripani
23 April 2007 – 2 June 2007
Ewart and Pearce Lanes, Dandenong
Four artists Helen Pollard, Wendy Black, Antonella Ripani and Sue Jarvis joined forces to produce work that explored aspects of Dandenong’s history and present day culture.
The installation was visible 24 hours a day.
Tin Lids by Linda Spencer
20 April 2007 – 1 June 2007
Dandenong Plaza, McCrae Street, Dandenong
This work referenced the Heinz factory, which began producing tinned food in Dandenong from the late 50’s bringing workers and families to the area.
The tin can theme is echoed in the metal kid’s clothes sculpted, using retro 60’s sewing patterns from the same era. Some of the metal garments had children’s playground sayings from the 1960’s punched into them.
Overalls: On the strap Giddy Giddy Gout your shirt’s hanging out. One mile in, and one mile out
Dress with bow: On the collar Copy cat from Ballarat went to school and got the strap
Shorts: On the pockets Liar Liar Pants on fire
Pants: On the waistband Captain Cook chased a chook all around Australia; he lost his pants in the middle of France and found them in Tasmania
Pinafore: On pockets I scream; you scream; we all scream; for ice cream and Little Miss Pink fell down the sink how many gallons did she drink? Seven 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Drama Masks by Kate Weeks
15 January 2007 - 23 February 2007
Cnr Lonsdale and Walker Streets, Dandenong
Contemporary artist Kate Weeks paintings depict theatre masks surrounded by a series of spotlights.
The bold images look over the nearby Drum Theatre; Dandenong’s new theatrical heart.
Dandenong Ranges (after Von Guerard) by Wendy Black
15 January 2007 – 23 February 2007
Dandenong Plaza, McCrae Street, Dandenong
Dandenong Ranges (after Von Guerard) highlighted Dandenong’s glorious backyard.
The imagery was based upon the painting Ferny Tree Gully in the Dandenong Ranges by Eugene Von Guerard. It was painted by Von Guerard in 1857 when he passed through, creating a great pictorial record of Victoria.
Wendy took inspiration from the painting and developed a contemporary installation featuring the bush setting and lyrebirds.
Café Culture Kate Weeks
1 December 2006 – 15 January 2007
Dandenong Plaza, McCrae Street, Dandenong
Kate Weeks stylised painting of three girls enjoying a coffee injected a sense of summer fun and colour into the Dandenong Plaza window.
The work commented on the growing café culture and is presented in the style of a theatre set for dramatic effect.
The café furniture, plants and bottles are bursting with character, as are the ‘prickly’ girls at the centre of the piece.
Mindful Terrains by Helen Pollard, Penny Algar, Ceri Hann, Isabel O'Brien, Emma Hancock
15 November 2006 – 17 January 2007
Ewart and Pearce Lanes, Dandenong
Mindful Terrains focused on larger environmental issues while allowing the viewer to enter a new environment within an urban setting. The works combine digital prints, light based sculptures, and mixed media installations to entice passers-by to explore the laneways and be more aware of the environment they live in.
Emma Anna’s work, Water Works, used jigsaw pieces to create the effect of water flowing from the laneway vents
Helen Pollard’s installation, We Just Like to Hang Around, offered a serious reminder of the longevity of objects such as disposable plastic cutlery
Ceri Hann used sea lights contained in buckets that strobe at night to invite consideration of diminishing water resources
Penny Algar’s intriguing Insect Ladders, offered microscopic life forms an avenue of escape to a safer place.
Isabel O’Brien’s Shifting Tableaux enabled the viewer to become part of the work as they stand before a reflective surface and are superimposed onto an image of an idyllic Australian landscape on the wall behind them.
Fine and Dandy by Wendy Black
2 November 2006 – 15 December 2006
Corner of Lonsdale and Walker Street, Dandenong
Richmond has the Skipping Girl as a neon icon and Dandenong’s equivalent was the Dandy Pig.
While the sign was in storage, a large six-panel painting of the smiling pig was on show in a vacant first floor window opposite the Drum Theatre.
The artwork, by experienced artist Wendy Black, was a further clue to a series of smaller symbolic works in nearby Crump Lane (see Combination Pig, below).
Combination Pork by Wendy Black
26 October 2006 – 15 December 2006
Corner of Lonsdale and Walker Street, Dandenong
The Dandy Pig makes a welcome comeback to Dandenong while it was in storage through approximately 75 small paintings referencing the iconic Dandy Hams and Bacon pig in Crump Lane.
They feature parts of the pig including his waistcoat, top hat and cane; winking eye; smile and characteristic stylised face.
Traces by Clare McCracken
23 October 2006 – 1 December 2006
Dandenong Plaza, McCrae Street, Dandenong
Clare McCracken’s work was comprised of five market style shopping jeeps each covered in its own style of fabric depicting the many cultures that have made Dandenong their home.
An immigration timeline behind the trolleys highlighted the role of migration in the creation of the city and celebrated the collective history shared by Dandenong’s inhabitants.
Shop Front Art Projection by Ian de Gruchy
1 – 10 August 2006
Corner of Lonsdale and Walker Street, Dandenong
Internationally renowned artist Ian De Gruchy dazzled Dandenong for 10 nights with his innovative light projection in a vacant shop opposite Drum Theatre.
A series of geometric patterns, textures and colour danced across the walls and ceiling of the former bank in a 15 minute light show. The work was powered by 12 light projectors that operated each night.
