“‘Piwakawaka and the Pinecone’ just fits beautifully,” says Geraldine Sculpture Trail coordinator Rosie Woods. The bronze sculpture was unveiled on Friday at the Geraldine Library and Service Centre, the trail’s first permanent artwork.
Created by Arrowtown artist Fiona Garlick and donated by Rachael Autridge and her brother Richard Ramsay, “Piwakawaka and the Pinecone” is a tribute to the siblings’ parents, Audre and Murray Ramsay, and to their wider family. Rachael says, “It has a rural feel, and it’s nature-oriented … It’s for people to enjoy.” Her parents lived close to nature, she says.
Fiona says, “Piwakawaka and the Pinecone” came out of the lockdown around Covid; we would walk the hills pulling up wilding pines. There were piwakawaka everywhere. I had the idea piwakawaka might ‘win’. But we love the pinecones. There are no hard lines. It’s a gentle story.” The 2021 work is the sixth in a series of seven, cast in bronze and featuring Timaru bluestone.
Its launch marks a transition for the sculpture trail. Rosie says attention has, until recently, been “on infrastructure: paths, the viewing platform, the boardwalk, and near-complete signage. It’s timely that art now becomes the focus.” She says the installation brings together donors keen to make a lasting gesture to Geraldine, art by a sculptor in the trail advisory group’s ‘top 10’, and symbiosis between site and sculpture.
She says, “We hope it’ll encourage people not to be shy if they want to do something similar or be part of our project in other ways … The project is to help the vibrancy of the town and for people to enjoy the benefits of the town. It’s for locals and also for visitor attraction.”
Since late 2023, the trail has featured six works on loan from Timaru’s Aigantighe Art Gallery.
JAN FINLAYSON
