New artwork takes flight from Wagga Wagga Regional Airport on Monday

New artwork takes Flight from Wagga Wagga Regional Airport on Monday - 23 April 2015

A new artwork has taken “flight” at the Wagga Wagga Regional Airport, with visitors to the city now greeted by the 15-metre long creation to be officially unveiled on Monday 27 April.

Flight completes a series of three major public art works at the airport, joining Col Henry’s Reflective Nature and Jonathan Jones, Aunty Sandy Warren, Aunty Lorrain Tye and Aunty Joyce Hampden’s Wagga Wagga weaving welcome completed in December 2013.

Flight is inspired by both the Murrumbidgee River and features abstract wings, which represent flight and the connection to the airport site, which move when a breeze comes through.

The Wagga Wagga Writers Writers, through the Booranga Writers’ Centre at Charles Sturt University, helped develop the symbolic wording on the artwork: “Horizons made wide in the country”.

Attending the official opening will be Susan Milne and Greg Stonehouse, the artists behind Flight, and Wagga Wagga Writers Writers representatives David Gilbey, Joan Cahill, Claire Baker, Maurice Corlett and Kathryn Halliwell.

Milne and Stonehouse collaborated with the writers group, who submitted a number of possible phrases for the artwork, with Council selecting “Horizons made wide in the country” as it not only represented the landscape that visitors are often mesmerised by, but also refers to the so many options available to those living in Wagga.

Recognising the key role that public art plays in fulfilling this commitment, and responding to the cultural needs of the community, Council’s Public Art Plan 2014-2016 entitled “WaggaWorks – Our City’s Creative Expression” outlines key principles and strategies for enhancing the City’s public spaces.

The Airport Precinct Public Art Project was a major project for the Public Art Advisory Panel.

Media opportunity

What: Official unveiling of Flight

Where: Don Kendell Drive

When: Monday 27 April, 10.30am