Swamp Banksia

About the work

Swamp Banksia is my interpretation of the symbol at the heart of my new school, Noosa Pengari Steiner School. After travelling around Australia, I became interested in the way towns use sculpture to welcome people. I wanted to create something that could do the same for my school.
Making it was a lot more challenging than I expected, but that was also what I enjoyed about it. I spent more than 100 hours bending, forging, welding and shaping steel and copper. Things went wrong. Some of my structural welds would snap, so I had to persevere. My design also evolved as I worked, becoming more refined and expressive.
When you stand in front of Swamp Banksia, I hope you notice nature’s elegance, the petals are an embrace, the stand reflects the struggles we all face in life. Most of all, I hope it feels like a genuine welcome.