Skip to main content

Mengler Hill: Barossa Sculpture Park Revisited

April 14th, 2009

After the some-what disappointing Step Back in Time, Rose and I decided to head up the road (and up the hill) to the Mengler Hill Lookout, home of the Barossa Sculpture Symposium. I wrote about these sculptures when Rose visited me back in 2007 and at the time was unimpressed with what I saw.

However, sometime during the year 2008 a new Symposium was held with a few more international sculptors being invited to contribute new works to the existing park. Hence, since we were so close, we thought we would have a look.

As near as we could tell about eight (possibly nine) new sculptures have been added to the park. Unusually we couldn't find any information about who made them or what each new sculpture was called (other than some pretty rough signature inscriptions into the sculptures themselves - one even had the artist's web address carved into the base).

All but one of the new sculptures were fairly simplistic abstract shapes much like the existing sculptures. The odd one out was only different because it had a simplistic female figure carved into the rock (see photo, right - Rose is the figure not made out of rock!).

In my opinion the new sculptures simply give visitors more to look at and do very little to enhance the park's experience overall. If abstract shapes and symbolism are your thing when it comes to art then put this on your MUST SEE list. Personally I'm not into it.

I know carving anything out of rock is a difficult ask but I can't help thinking many of the original masters (such as Michelangelo) did sculpture so much better with far more primitive tools than what is available to artists today. It's not like I want to see classical sculpture with realistic figures depicting bible stories, myths and legends but please, give me something with depth and detail that makes me marvel at the skill required to achieve such artistic excellence.

If you can't do that at least arrange the sculptures closer together so their combined presence makes some kind of statement as a whole. In this park the sculptures are just too far apart and don't really have any visual cohesiveness to each other beyond being sculptures carved from the same type of rock.

All of the sculptures in this park I feel I could create with a six week crash course in rock carving. It's a terrible generalisation akin to saying my kid could make that. Like the kid I probably couldn't make these sculptures, or if I could, would I think to make them? Probably not.

Perhaps the Barossa Council would like a giant stone carving of one of my cats?
TET Life Topics:

Comments

  1. TET (David Arandle)April 16, 2009 10:28 PM

    I don't usually comment first on my own posts but I wanted to add that while we were wandering around the sculpture park a large tour bus pulled into the look out. A few people got off to take a photo of the view but not one person came down to look around the park.

    Perhaps they were on a time limit but what does that say about the sculpture park if tour operators don't give their guests time to look around?

    ReplyDelete
  2. William DinsioMay 09, 2009 12:59 PM

    Thank You!
    I totally get what you are saying. These giant paper weights are very rarely appealing. There is some good contemporary stone sculpture out there but it's not that easy to come by.

    I am a stone sculptor and I work for a sculptor. Daniel SInclair, he is a real modern day Michelangelo or at least the closest to it. You can see his work at dmsstudios.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. TET (David Arandle)May 09, 2009 9:08 PM

    Thanks for the comment wdandins. I did look at Daniel's web site and his work is truly beautiful and stunning. Great to see that classical stone sculpture work is still being practiced today.

    Whilst I wouldn't necessarily want to see classical sculpture on Menglar hill I'm sure there must be more contemporary stone sculpture that has that same breath taking 'wow' factor that I get from seeing classical work such as Daniels.

    Mengler hill has so much history surrounding it. It deserves something better than abstract symbolism and shapes that the local community doesn't seem to be able to embrace.

    Broken Hill has a similar set of abstract stone sculptures but done so much better. The arts community there not only embraces their park they paint pictures featuring it - over and over.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stone SculptureMay 08, 2013 2:50 PM

    I like your post and it is so good and I am definetly going to save it. One thing to say the In depth analysis this blog has is trully remarkable.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 11, 2015 9:19 PM

    The two main name plaques detailing the sculptors names and their matching artworks are set into the ground nearest the ramp access point. I believe the reason that Menglers Hill Barossa Sculpture Park does not have more appealing sculptures is that the area is not manned by security and that greater works or art are likely to be stolen or vandalised. And yes they were created in limited time frames. Lots of constant challenges for the parks' caretakers. Some-one has already tried to burn the large terracotta plaque and some-one has attempted to obliterate the wheat-sheaf on the adjacent carved stone panel. The road surface of the lookout is thick with tire marks from burnouts. Beer bottles have been shattered after being thrown from the lookout towards the sculptures. I'm with you, I don't find it appealing, but then stone is not my thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TET (David Arandle)April 12, 2015 10:59 AM

      I don't really buy that the quality of art has been affected by the potential for it to be stolen or vandalized. I doubt that even crossed anyone's mind. I also think the artists themselves would be offended by the idea that their work was considered of a lower quality for that reason.

      What really lets this park down is the disconnected nature of the art. Even if the sculptures are based around similar themes (which I think they are) they're placed so far apart that you can't really appreciate them in any other way than on their individual merits.

      Delete
  6. mark johnsonMay 07, 2018 7:33 PM

    I love the way you write and share your niche! Very interesting and different! Keep it coming! Large Metal Sculptures For Sale

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated by an actual human (me, TET) and may not publish right away. I do read all comments and only reject those not directly related to the post or are spam/scams (I'm looking at you Illuminati recruiters... I mean scammers. Stop commenting on my Illuminati post!).

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

James Gunn's Social Media Monkeys Joke Was a Highlight of His Superman Movie For Me

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls.  The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Movie Review: A Complete Unknown (2024) *No Spoilers*

Y ou would think the Bob Dylan story would be 'wind-swept and interesting,' to quote Billy Connelly, however, despite  A Complete Unknown  being quite an engaging film, it feels like it missed the years that really shaped him as a song writer/performer. The film starts in 1961, with a then unknown, 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in New York City with his guitar.  From there he forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world. The problem being, according to this film, Dylan arrived in New York, for the most part, fully formed as a folk singer/song writer. In virtually no time he makes a very important connection that puts him on the trajectory of doing the work and becoming a name, before making his world changing performance. While there is some drama behind the scenes with his various relationships, none of it is particularly unique to any number of up and com...
3 comments
Continue Reading »

Movie Review: Superman (2025) *No Spoilers*

T he one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters.  He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins. James Gunn's  Superman  is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film.  To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world. Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other s...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood  Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...
2 comments
Continue Reading »

Revisiting Hobart, Tasmania (2025) - Part 2 of 2

Tasman Bridge as seen from The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. C ontinuing on with my partner (Enigma) and I's return to Hobart, Tasmania, it's day three, and a Monday. Enigma was hoping to see snow on top of Mount Wellington this trip however, so far we'd had nothing but fine weather. A little on the cool side maybe, but not enough to put snow on the mountain. Which you can check with Summit Cam's live feed from the mountain top. So we decided to fill our day with Hobart's other bus tour... Red Decker Hop On/Hop Off Bus Tour The Red Decker Bus. The Red Decker bus tour is a 90 minute loop tour of the main sights within Hobart. While you can just stay on the bus the whole loop the idea is to get off the bus at any key location you may like to further explore and then rejoin the tour when the next available bus comes along to your nearest timed stop. Tickets last for 24 or 48 hours, giving you plenty of time to explore without being rushed. The bus website tells ...
2 comments
Continue Reading »

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art  image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »