Sculptured Coolamon Form Seats - Alice Springs, NT, Australia - Artistic Seating on Waymarking.com

The official opening Monday 14th September 2009, of the ‘Gathering Garden’ on the Civic Centre site in the town centre of Alice Springs was the culmination of a Public Arts project that brought together Indigenous artists from nine communities surrounding Alice Springs, artist Julie Squires, who came up with the concept, Alice Springs Town Council, and the NT government.

The artists who worked and contributed to the ‘Gathering Garden’ include Marie Elena Ellis, Michael Nelson, Roseanne Ellis, Marcia Alice, April Campbell, Emma Daniels, Tina Malbunka, Thomas Rice, June Smith and MK Turner. The artists created paintings for the garden that were reinterpreted into the motif designs and sculptured coolamon forms by artist Julie Squires and her assistant Fred White.

A large bronze urn forms the centrepiece of the new Gathering Garden situated in the centre of Alice's CBD. The fountain is a symbol of water and life and is surrounded by eight coolamons, each consisting of a unique design that tells its own story of the region.

The garden was designed by Julie Squires, who chose to use coolamons as a main feature because she wanted to come up with "an iconic shape that was very much something that was a connection between all of the indigenous communities around central Australia."

The coolamons have been flipped over to serve as seats in the garden. The coolamons are made of bronze and will get warm during the summer, but thanks to creative planning and design, the issue was easily addressed.

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Artist: Julie Squires Date Placed: 14th September, 2009 Materials Used: Bronze

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/14/2015 Jeremiah Bullfrog visited it