Nesting - Bundeena, NSW, Australia
S 34° 05.096 E 151° 09.071
56H E 329424 N 6226884
This is a very simplistic sculpture, set in blocks of sandstone.
Waymark Code: WMZQ8E
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 12/20/2018
Views: 0
The cast-bronze tree, looks like a miniature mangrove tree, or an inverted branch, with another branch directly connected, and directed heaven-ward, with a wire nest in the upper branch. It is embedded in the roughly hewn top of a rectangular prism of cream-coloured 'Hawkesbury sandstone', which is then resting (fixed) on a plinth/base of two further blocks of sandstone.
This was the first, of a few, sculptures commissioned by the local Bundeena Maianbar Chamber of Commerce (BMCC) http://bundeenainfo.com/bmcc-sculpture-2018.html and installed in 2011.
A statement by Lee, about her sculpture is printed in the BMCC Newsletter:
“This piece evolved from my interest in the poetics of the grid. Birds nests are loosely constructed grids and this is a link to the constructed grids of houses-both creating intimate spaces for families. The tree form holding the nest is made from reconfigured found gum tree branches. Bundeena is surrounded by trees so it is relevant to consider the “Nesting” sculpture a reflection of the human inhabitation in Bundeena’s bushland environment." BMCC Newsletter: December 2010
A brushed stainless steel plaque at the base of the sculpture has the following inscription:
Nesting
Lee Bethel
Precarious
Lives lived within this space
Communities of people moving through
Held together by the open handed offering
Of a nesting place
Verse by Anne Kelly
Sponsored by Bundeena Maianbar Chamber of Commerce
And Sutherland Shire Council
2010
A photo, from a totally different perspective, of looking up to the sky, so that the Nest becomes apparent, can be seen in a BMCC newsletter, along with a photo of the sculptor. Also, the full "Nesting" poem by Anne Kelly is reproduced there "Nesting".
Nesting
Precarious.
Perched in the sparse branch
Of a twisted tree
Rests the tender nest
Open handed offering to raiders
Buffeted by seasons’ winds
Its host deeply rooted in the
Sandstone
Which stands above the bay
Surrounding its waters
Founding its depths
Laying down
Its lucent grains
Along beach and shoreline.
Precarious.
The house on the ridgeline
Looking south
Above the crowded tree line
To the storm conjured clouds and
Wild winds of steamy summer days.
Billowing down to calm cabbage palmed
Depths of lagoon below.
Precarious.
Lives lived within this place.
Dharawal custodians
Blessed by quiet waters
Untouched bush
Surveyed out of view
By ordered streets of
England’s towns.
Precarious.
Depression days of bay side shacks
Fishermen in salt sprayed caves
Wartime men who couldn’t cope
With peacetime’s unbelief
Precarious.
Lives lived within this space.
Communities of people moving through
Held together by the
open handed offering
Of a nesting place.
This place beside the bay.
Address: Roger Summers Reserve, corner Brighton Street and Bundeena Drive, Bundeena, NSW, 2230, Australia
Visited: 1358-9, Sunday, 1 July, 2018