Peter and Pam Skelton with sculptor Ally Dalton and the sandstone step at St Georges Church, Eden where a new sculpture will be placed. Photo: Denise Dion.
A beautiful bronze sculpture which captures not only artistic collaboration but the essence of the helping hands at St George’s Uniting Church, Eden, will soon be mounted in pride of place on an historic sandstone step at the 160-year-old church.
While people may choose to have their own interpretation of the work, for former pastor at the church, and prominent community leader Pam Skelton, it is “a key scriptural narrative of this congregation”. The words from John 21.1.14 refer to the miraculous catch of fish and were the textual guide for the artwork.
The Uniting Church is well-known for its food relief, giving and community support systems. It hosts a community pantry which sells food at much reduced prices. It has a busy, weekly Thursday cafe providing hot food, lunches, snacks and hot drinks for whatever people can afford to give. Food parcels also get delivered to those in need and it’s all run by volunteers.
It was after the 2020 bushfires that talk of an Eden sculpture trail started and at the same time Ms Skelton reached out to artist Jesse Graham who had lost his home in the fires. Well-known for his large sculptural works, Mr Graham has won prizes at major exhibitions on the South Coast and Jindabyne and has had exhibitions in Canberra and Sydney.
While the sculpture trail wasn’t to be at that time, the Uniting Church had raised money and it was decided that a sculptural commission for the church would be appropriate. Mr Graham said the original commission was going to be a mixture of materials including steel, copper and cast aluminum.
“I had barely begun work on it, when I was invited to do a bronze casting course with Tanja sculptor, Ross Cameron. I had done a previous bronze course at the ANU, but wasn’t yet confident in bronze casting on my own,” he said.
“With fresh enthusiasm for bronze casting, I sought out Ally Dalton, who I had heard was the president of the local pottery group in Eden and casted bronze works at home. When I saw his quality of work I was really impressed. He was far more advanced in the methods of casting than me, and when I told him about the Uniting Church commission he suggested we could make it out of bronze,” Mr Graham said.
Mr Dalton first started experimenting in bronze in 2022 but had been sculpting in clay since 2010.
It was the start of a collaboration between the two artists, and the Uniting Church with the resultant sculpture of two hands, a fish and a loaf of bread.
Mr Dalton explained they made the sculpture out of wax and cast a block of plaster around it. The wax was carefully burnt out over a number of days to open up the space into which the molten liquid bronze was poured.
“You have to wait for a couple of hours and then you smash the plaster off. It’s been made in nine parts,” Mr Dalton said.
“The hands and the sleeves were the biggest pieces; the back of the hands and the bread and fish were done separately and so was the underneath of the bread and fish.”
The sculpture has taken 35 kg of bronze and was cast at the end of June but finishing the work can be the most time-consuming allowing for grinding and sanding to help define the lines of the sculpture.
“It became a bit of a process. There’s a lot of work and skill in the finishing. There’s a patina still to be painted on and then polished back,” Mr Dalton said.
“I’m super pleased to say, the final work – which was a lot of work – is far superior to anything I could have produced a year ago without meeting Ally,” Mr Graham said.
The sculpture will be positioned on a sandstone block which was an original step into the church.
“It reflects the miracle of human kindness. It’s also about the personal journey of the church,” Ms Skelton said.
It will be officially unveiled on Thursday 8 October at St Georges Uniting Church, Eden. Everyone is welcome to attend. There will be music from 11 am, pizzas and kids activities before the unveiling at about 12:30 pm.
