Not many people would know that one of our groundsman was also an accomplished sculptor, but now the secret’s out. Tony Heritage has won the ‘People’s Choice’ award in Dunsborough’s Sculptures by the Bay exhibition, held early in March.
“It was a great weekend,” said Tony, “the interaction with the public was amazing!” He spoke to lots of people at the exhibition about the creative process for his robotic steam-punk themed sculpture, entitled “Robofish.
“It took a lot longer than I thought it would,” said Mr Heritage, whose first sculpture entry five years ago (named “Bob”) was constructed from fibreglass. He said he loved the look of metal and found the process of working with steel much easier, but admits that he ended up spending more time experimenting than working on the piece. “I kept getting sidetracked making equipment to bend and shape it.”
He also found metalwork much more forgiving than the weather-sensitive resin used in fibreglass, particularly as the deadline for the exhibition loomed. “I got to the stage where I just chopped half of it away and kept going.”
The sculpture sold for $4000 to a family in Bunbury, and Tony is already thinking about his next piece.
While he’s keen to work with metal again, the subject matter, he says, will be something completely different. “It won’t be a fish.”
