COUNCIL has green-lit a public artwork worth $23,600 ahead of the new Changing Face of the Peel exhibition set to be launched in early December.
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Tamworth Regional Council will commission local artist Peter Hooper to produce a five-metre high sculpture titled Picasso Guitar, to be erected near Bicentennial Park.
Designs by the artist said the piece could be a “companion piece to the big golden guitar”.
The sizable sculpture will be part of the Changing Face of the Peel project which will be exhibited by Tamworth Regional Gallery from December 9, but organisers anticipate the guitar may be unveiled at a later date.
The exhibition uses “public art to explore local stories about the river and illustrate how the use of the Peel River has changed over time”.
Tamworth Regional Gallery has planned for the exhibition to run through December and will be on show to bigger audiences during the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Tamworth Regional Gallery director Bridget Guthrie said the Picasso Guitar was one of three public works in the new exhibition, which she described as “sculpture by the Peel”.
The public works will also include a sculpture titled River Bend by Walcha artist James Rogers and a mosaic bench by the Art Collective Group.
“[The artist] Peter Hooper is commenting on how country music has become a big part of Bicentennial Park and the river,” she said.
“It’s also connected to our identity, music is a big part of our life and history.”
The exhibition, sprawled across the Peel River and within the gallery, will be tied together by “augmented reality” technology, allowing people to use their smartphones to engage with audio and video about the works and the river’s history.
Cr Juanita Wilson helped choose the piece and said public artworks could be contentious and predicted there may be some criticism.
“With public art, some will love it, others will tolerate and some will berate it, but that means it is creating connection and starting a conversation,” Cr Wilson said.
“It’s important to consider, people come to Tamworth for jobs and other opportunities, but they stay for the lifestyle.
“Public art pushes the boundaries… and it’s important to be inspired beyond the ordinary because the ordinary is all around.”