Brunswick Beach Art
There’s nothing like a spontaneous communal free sculpture exhibition with audience participation to lift the spirits and dispel the laments and cries of, “the terrible, terrible night the beach at Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads was washed away and all its fury and debris slung at the shore in place of squeaky white sand.”
So what are Byron Shire folk famous for? Their heart, spirit and a sense of optimism and a strong appreciation of beauty. Byron Bay in its 200 year history has adapted and rolled with the punches of the ocean – from piers disappearing, houses being lost and beach and habitat turned upside down. And at point 22B just 10 minutes walk towards Byron from Brunswick Heads’ Beach you can see the debris being miraculously assembled into raw and almost breathing works of art.
I don’t know who started it. I have seen children and random people adding to it and I have been compelled to go every day to add a little bit. I was lost in my childhood today – down there for a few hours. I was encouraging people who stopped to appreciate the works to add something – great or small. And they do. And it’s becoming beautiful. Some shy some bold … you can tell a lot about a personality as to how they sign their name with a branch, a twig, a plastic rings, bright colours or shy things.
So if you feel inclined to bring out your artistic soldier for beauty then come along. It’s the best meditation and relaxation I know. The best part about it is that you cannot get it wrong and someone will add to what you do – so there’s no room for ownership and copyright. Today someone had added the most delightful shell looking like angels wings over the words of LOVE that I had written with twigs only yesterday It’s a living, moving and priceless non-precious work of human-nature.
Soon as the moon ripens to a luminous fullness the tides will rise to salute the moon and in the certainty and majesty of that salute it will thank us for the art and take it away. A great reminder for the impermanence of it all … the oneness of the cycle of creation and destruction. And it’s all beautiful. I am looking forward to watching its demise … even then it will be changed and will always look fresh and new until not a trace of it is left.
Brunswick Beach Art 2
But what will remain is the memory of the beauty and hope it represented and no one will talk of the night the beach was stolen from our very eyes … only the miracle of art that was born from that night. And children might see storms like Christmas leaving gifts of debris to assemble in aesthetic order for no other reason than to pass the time and evoke smiles.
Who knows … we might even come to include storms as a magnificent part of nature … tidying up the backyard, discarding the old to make way for the new. As Mother Nature is so prone to do.
SEE ALSO: Environemental Byron Bay artist John Dahlsen and his recycled art created from found objects.
Can’t wait for next years sculpture show.