Ten of the Best at Sculpture on the Gulf 2013

Concrete Playground and headland Sculpture on the Gulf are offering won lucky reader the chance to win the ultimate sculpture experience, valued at $150. Prize includes a double return ferry pass to the exhibition and a meal of Waiheke’s finest food and wine at the Sculpture on the Gulf Pavilion. Simply email [email protected] with the subject line WAIHEKE to go in the draw. Must be subscribed to Concrete Playground to enter.

As a first timer at Sculpture on the Gulf I wasn't sure what to expect. Was it going to be long? Hard? Would the sculptures be interesting? Would I understand them, or just nod and pretend I did. I headed over on Saturday, and suffice to say, the day blew my expectations out of the water.

After catching the Fullers ferry ride over in the sunshine, we walked over to the pavilion (on the right when you get off the ferry) and jumped on a $5 shuttle up to the start of the track (whilst almost backing over a port-a-loo). After grabbing a $5 book (well worth it) we began. The walk took us just over two hours, and it was leisurely stroll in and around the sculptures and beautiful coastline. At the end we stopped and had a locally brewed beer ($7.50) and some Mussel Fritters ($6.50) at the pavilion and sat enjoying the sunshine waiting for the ferry. We couldn't believe how cheap it all was compared to the mainland.

Below is some of my highlights at Sculpture On The Gulf 2013. Hopefully this inspires you to get over to the descending waters, and check out Sculpture on the Gulf. It is well worth the mission. (Note: These are in the order we walked past them, not in a preference order.

1. Shrine for the Sea, Soil and Sky

Terry Stringer

Shrine for the Sea, Soil and Sky stands in the landscape as a miniature building. The structure houses a small figure which the columns of the building act to frame. As you walk around the artwork it projects a different image on each of its three aspects - a hand, a foot and a head. It attracted lots of excitement from the crowd as they interacted with it, and walked around the bronze sculpture multiple times to see that transition again and again.

2. Beyond Good and Evil

Konstantin Dimpoulos

Referencing Alfred Hitchcock;s psychological thriller The Birds, this piece delves into the narrative of fear and anxiety. Waiheke Island inherits the character of Bodega Bay, the quiet coastal town in the movie and the sculpture places the viewer into the playground scene, evoking the same sense of foreboding. While the broacher version of the artwork has two seagulls photoshopped onto the piece, unfortunately there weren't any in real life.

3. Waiheke Island Sway

Fatu Feu'u

This creative and colourful display celebrates the commonality of South Sea Islands, drawing on a flexible island theme in the form of giant music box ukuleles - a link to the islands of Polynesia. Waiheke Island has a free spirit, within easy distance from Auckland but far removed culturally. When you land on Waiheke, you feel the laid-back warmth of a Pacific island. It was was popular display with children and adults alike.

4. Sheep Track

Gina Ferguson

Spinning and knitting are processes associated with women and rural life. This artwork recalls the crafted 'colonial' blanket, made to protect, cover and keep the wearer warm, transformed into a carpet-like woollen path nestled into the landscape - a draped farmer's scarf. This was a beautiful piece, and one that felt super soft underfoot - even with shoes on.

5. Knotty

Jeff Thomson

This was a great piece. A habit of combining New Zealand's coastline for tangled treasures - knotted ropes and fishing line - gave rise to this sculpture of curved and knotted corrugated iron constructed on-site in the lead up to the opening Sculpture on the Headland. By creating the work into its setting, the Thomson seeks an intimate dialogue between the sculpture and the land.

6. a Play 'CATWALK'

Kazu Nakagawa

This super-fun interactive artwork was the most popular of the day. Viewers are invited to take a role in this play as actors and perfomers on the catwalk, or in the audience on the side. a Play 'CATWALK' is the continuation of Nakawagawa's fashion-orientated transient artworks, which appear under the brand [un]dress.

7. I am Auckland

Aaron McConchie

For a Twitter addict, this was certainly another highlight of Sculpture On The Gulf. It requires three viewers at a time to work together to position mechanical signs that form a QR code. Using a smartphone, a fourth viewer can then access a dynamically driven website that extracts streaming information from around Auckland's Twittersphere. With no positive stops on the levers, a process of direction and negotiation between active participants in necessary. Unfortunately we didn't have enough in our group to get the artwork to work correctly, and the group in front were terrible at it - so I didn't get to scan and connect.

8. Pavilion Structure

Gregor Kregard

Building site detritus takes on a self-organisng dream-like aspect in this piece. In contrast to the minimalist architectural style of many houses around the headland, this structure is organic, having a bird's nest quality. It highlights the way wood is allocated value in an environment that takes heed of carbon emission mitigation. The structure (as you can see from the picutre) is huge, and had many swings inside. It was beautiful to see the children swinging inside on giant swings with utter joy spread across there faces.

9. Overview Overlook Oversee

Graham Bennett

Having created an improbable mechanism for gauging weight, time and direction, Bennett draws attention in this fantastic piece to how measurement informs out perspective or point of view. A 'kitset' man toys with a nonsensical apparatus with the elements - able to move independently while still attached to faux scales. View - our environment, issues confronting us. Look - our context, time and resources. See - our capacity for finding solutions.

10. Wildfire

Sarah Brill

A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside. It differs from other fires by its extensive size, the speed it spreads, its potential to change direction unexpectedly, and its ability to jump gaps such as roads and rivers. Wildfires kill and cause extensive damage to property, but they also have beneficial effects on wilderness areas. This piece highlights regeneration after distruction, which is poignant after recent national and global events. It is particularly confronting given the current fire currently burning just over on Great Barrier Island.

In Case of Emergency LIKE this Page (Honourable Mention)

Trish Clarke

This final piece was great - though it didn't make the top 10 I wanted to give it a special mention. NZ watched on in horror as an oil spill occured off the coast of Tauranga, caused by the grounding of MV Rena on the Astrolabe Reef on October 5 2011. The plight of the blue penguin covered in the oil slick went viral, and its need for little knitted jumpers. This work encourages participants to 'like' the Facebook Page and interact with it by posting images of Sculpture On The Gulf and of any environmental issues encountered throughout the exhibition period.  Take a look at the Facebook page here.