Have you seen the large stars that have popped up around Lane Cove Village? These stars are a result of the Lane Cove Guiding Star Project. What is this project all about?
What is the Lane Cove Guiding Star Project?
Lane Cove’s Guiding Stars is a temporary public art project to encourage residents to think twice about the amount of electronic waste (e-waste) generated through Christmas gift-giving with a series of captivating three-dimensional installations.
E -waste can include but is not limited to discarded appliances such as mobile phones, computers, and televisions. The project is also a promotional tool for encouraging responsible disposal of e-waste at the Artarmon Community Recycling Centre (CRC)
Lane Cove Council commissioned six recycled e-waste star designs. The brief to the artists was to be innovative, imaginative and bold and use recycled or re-appropriated e-waste objects for the majority of the construction. The project was open to any Lane Cove Council resident and residents of the Greater Sydney Area. The completed works have now be installed by Council and are currently on display around the Lane Cove Village.
Two of the artists involved in the project were from the Lane Cove Council Area. Anne Maree Cummins lives in Lane Cove and Matt McLarty is from St Leonards. We asked Anne Maree (who has two stars on display) to tell us about her project.
Why did you decide to be involved in the Guiding Star Project?
I was approached by Lane Cove council to submit an idea, as I created a reindeer sculpture made of recycled products for council, 5 years ago.
How did you come up with the concepts?
My daughter Arkie and I thought about what e-waste we would be able to find and the colours they might be. We wanted to be as true to the original product as we could, i.e. not use paint or other art supplies to enhance the e-waste. The artworks (cover photo and below) are called the L’Ordinateur Stars, 2018. L’Ordinateur is French for computer.
How long did it take you to complete the artworks?
On and off for 2 months.
How did you find the e-waste?
We collected from friends who were updating their tvs, scavenging off the street and from Lane Cove Council.
Did you know about the CRC Before you Started this Project?
I had no idea a Community Recycling Centre was located in Artarmon. This project has increased my awareness of local recycling options. I have now started dropping off waste at the CRC.
It’s an amazing facility and the staff are really helpful and knowledgeable. You can recycle so many household products and everyone should make use of the facility to make our world a greener place.
Not only is Anne Marie a talented artist she is also the director of Food To Film. Food to Film is a video and photography production agency. Kind of a hybrid of advertising and production as they concept and produce social media stories, photography and videos. Their services also include graphic design, content creation, social media strategy and facebook ads. Read more here.
Matt McLarty
Matt McLarty is a Lane Cove local and an emerging artist and photographer. His painted works often feature bold colours in a simplistic abstract style. His catalogue of photographs is vast and includes macro images of the natural world, impressive landscapes and everyday objects otherwise forgotten.
More Guiding Stars
If you would like to know more about the other artists involved in the project, just click here.
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