Gifts and Visitors

Ayob bin Ismail on the front page of the Moorabool News, holding a model of The Red Dot.

June has been a busy month with Ballan hosting an international guest and the 1000 Weathervanes in Ballan initiative receiving two weathervane related gifts.

First Gifts First...
Moorabool Shire Council awarded me a community art grant to work with Patrick Bonello from Genesis FX to create a website and logo for the 1000 Weathervanes in Ballan initiative.


Moorabool Shire Grants Award Night, June 2009.


At the award night, L-R: Patrick Bonello, Velislav Georgiev, Sue Jones (Moorabool Shire Culture & Arts Officer), Tor Roxburgh & Ayob bin Ismail (Artist/Designer-in-Residence).

I'm really grateful to the Shire for the grant. It will allow us to build some technical and cultural infrastructure for the weathervane initiative.

Patrick and I are still in the early stages of thinking about the website but we've registered two domain names:
www.1000weathervanesinballan.com.au
and
www.ballanweathervanes.com.au

And we've had some ideas about content.

Proposed site content:
This is what we're thinking of including. Please post any other suggestions.

1. A Google Map with weathervane locations marked and thumbnails showing details.
2. A gallery of images with five sections: windart; windbirds; weathervanes; special commissions; Ballan buddies. (Ballan buddies will be a section where we can feature images of weathervanes outside Ballan if there is some association with our town - like the sister cities concept).
3. How to get a weathervane on your house with three sections: Off the Shelf; Custom; DIY.
4. A media page where we can keep track of publicity and provide information to the media.
5. General information about Moorabool Shire for site visitors who don't know us - and we'll include some links.
6. An online guestbook.
7. A Contact Us page.
8. A Wind Events page.

We've also done some thinking about the site's appearance. We'd like to have a rotating banner featuring 6 different panoramas of Ballan and we're going to run a local photography competition to generate the images. It looks as though we might have some generous support from the Ballan Lionesses with that endeavour.

A Visitor from Singapore...
About a year ago Wombat Regional Arts Network started talking about establishing an international exchange program for artists. Ayob bin Ismail arrived from Singapore at the start of June as Wombat's first artist/designer-in-residence, working as an intern with our public art business.


Velislav Georgiev closing the lid on one of the chess piece storage seats made during Ayob's residency and installed in Inglis street, Ballan. Ayob bin Ismail in the background.

Windart Gift...
From the outset, Wombat conceived of exchange program receipients making a contribution to the Shire. When Ayob arrived, we suggested that he design, make and donate a piece of windart. He agreed and our Mayor, Michael Tudball, accepted the gift on the Shire's behalf.


Ayob holding a model of his piece of windart The Red Dot; Velislav Georgiev beneath his piece of windart Windy Day in Ballan.

Ayob's windart is called The Red Dot. It uses geometric forms to convey the power of Moorabool's arts and design landscape. There are 7 red plates with differing diameters. Each plate represents an element within Ballan: community; natural landscape; history; culture; arts practice; vibrancy; tourism. The choice of red as the central colour indicates Ayob's wish for the Shire to experience prosperity, longevity and harmony.

The windart will be installed outside the Municipal Office in Stead street Ballan. Ayob created a Photoshop image of the suggested position.


Concept image of the proposed location for The Red Dot. Velislav Georgiev in the foreground.

Berry Street Ups the Ante

Recently I received an email from a source at the Moorabool News suggesting the the residents of Berry street had upped the ante by creating a very large and very impressive weathervane.

Velislav and I immediately headed to Berry street to investigate. We found two weathervanes. The first had obviously been there for a while. It was modest in size and featured a cow.


The cow-motif weathervane

The second was enormous. A great big decorative cockerel. Very ornate. The new weathervane was sitting on top of a decorative arch at the entry to a garden. We knocked on the door of the house to offer our congratulations but no one was home.


The Berry Street Cockerel by Norman Bainbridge - assembled from recycled elements

I later learned that the weathervane belonged to Norman and Heather Bainbridge. Norman told me that it is an assembled, recycled piece. The post is an off-cut from a plastic drainage pipe. A "Lazy Susan" provided the spnning platform for the bird. Norman bought the cockerel. It was made from an old oil drum by street kids in the West Indies as part of a development program.

Norman says "The basic idea was to stick the traditional cockrell on an arrow and to prove that it doesn't cost a fortune to make a reasonable looking [weathervane]". All in all, the project cost Norman just $60. It's pretty amazing.