A Public Art Sculpture at Dimbulah Park, Dimbulah, for Dimbulah Lions Club.
As a part of The Dimbulah Lions Club Tobacco Project I was commissioned to create a sculpture of a fully grown (and flowering) Tobacco Plant. The 2metre high copper sculpture was a challenge as there are no live tobacco plants in North Queensland to observe.
It is actually illegal to grow a tobacco plants in Australia. Therefore, there was a lot of research through the former Department of Primary Industries, Library, photographic archives and discussions with former growers to make sure that I achieved an authentic looking sculpture. The species of tobacco that I sculpted is Nicotiana Tabacum, this was one of the main species grown in the area. Botanist John Clarkson was an invaluable help with this project, not only did he have a keen interest in helping with the project, his passion transcended into the project. The farmers I worked with were fantastic, Paul and Eddie were an amazing team that really helped me understand the form of the plant without seeing one in person. They were really passionate about the Tobacco Industry and gave me lots of feedback along the way about how I was doing.
The sculpture was installed in late 2013.
Links for The Tobacco Plant;
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