July 6, 2007
By Millicent Kgowedi
Although it is mid-winter, trees are blossoming in Braamfontein.
Several artists are braving the winter chill to install 16 brightly coloured metal tree sculptures – adding to the nine erected last year.
Five new trees will grace the pavement between Melle, De Beer and Bertha streets.
The remaining 11 will bloom across two blocks to the west of the Mandela Bridge, between Bertha, Station and Henri streets.
The Braamfontein artworks are an initiative resulting from a partnership between the Johannesburg Development Agency and The Trinity Session, a contemporary art production team that runs The Premises, the gallery at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre. The Trinity Session team comprises critic Kathryn Smith, Stephen Hobbs, who describes himself as an "urbanism junkie", and Internet whiz Marcus Neustetter.
"We have a budget of R125 000 to complete the 16 new tree sculptures," says Hobbs. "The total budget for the entire tree sculpture project, including the nine that were launched last year, is about R200 000."
The public art project is part of the broader initiative to create a visual trail in Joburg's cultural arc, which spans Constitution Hill, Braamfontein, and the University of the Witwatersrand's East campus, across the Mandela Bridge through to Newtown, ending at the Bus Factory.
During the launch of the tree sculptures last year in July, visual art teacher Claire Regnard said of the public art, "the difference between the tree sculptures is that one can touch and even speak to them, unlike art in a museum".
According to Hobbs, students from the Imbali Visual Literacy Project based at The Bus Factory came up with the original concept and developed small-scale designs of the tree sculptures, using recycled materials like tyres, tin cans and plastics. "Claire took the designs by the students and created human-scale artworks of tree-like metal pieces," he added.
The pattern, size and material used for the new tree sculptures was the same as the previous ones, with the exception of three trees installed near the Mandela Bridge. "They are larger and have different patterns from the rest of the tree sculptures," Hobbs said.
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