REFLECT COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Rough model for a sculpture designed to support a World War II mine
Now on New Plymouth's Coastal Walkway
by Dale Copeland, 2015
(Model made of cardboard, tinfoil, and a softball with dental drills as the spikes)
| I was commissioned by the Art in Public Places group to design a structure
to display a naval mine which washed onto the rocks in
New Plymouth in 1943, the year I was born. I was pleased, and honoured, to be asked and designed this so passersby would see themselves reflected in the shiny stainless steel collar and realise that the mealy-mouthed term 'collateral damage' means people just like them. Nice ordinary people out for a walk, enjoying being alive, suddenly killed or maimed as a byproduct of someone else's war. I was delighted that PACE Engineering in New Plymouth were able to make my sculpture exactly the way I'd hoped. I regard this project as a high point in my life as well as my career. |
Dale's studio can be found on Surf Highway, Taranaki, New Zealand
More of her work can be seen on the Virtual TART site at www.tart.co.nz
email Dale at dale@tart.co.nz