Installation has been completed on Jade’s artwork for the Harbord Diggers Club. Jades’s characteristic kinetics have been subtly applied to 6 hand beaten copper poppies which shimmer in a reflecting pond. The back drop is a 35 sqm wall feature of perforated aged bronze – hand laser cut to deliver a softer sense of craftsmanship. With back lighting, Axolotl have helped create a the oceanic luminescence the artist sought, a reminder of the adjacent Pacific Ocean.
Working with Ganellen Builders, PublicArt Works appointed Jade Oakley and Axolotl to design and construct a memorial entrance feature for the redeveloped site in Harbord overlooking Dee Why Beach. A six month design development process working closely with project winning architects Chrofi has resulted in a more sophisticated design with a robust materiality more in keeping with a memorial.
Memorial and Poppy are artworks that pay tribute to the heritage of the Harbord Diggers Club whilst celebrating the reinvention of the Club as a vibrant community venue. The revitalised Diggers Club will be a multigenerational facility, serving a diverse range of people from the local community. Memorial and Poppy will be welcoming, memorable, and harmonious with the new development.
“With a friendship forged in the poppy fields of France, a group of only 6 surviving Diggers returned to the Northern Beaches. Needing a place to meet, share stories and enjoy a beer, they created Harbord Diggers and began an 80 year old legacy” (Excerpt from the Club Brief ).
Read more about this project at Collaboration of Design + Art and a here.
Image credit: Carolyn Price Photography
Prototype of the artwork by Jade Oakley & Axolotl