Gumnut Sculpture Fountain No 1
Kalamunda

Photo: Debbie Collins Photography

Gumnut Sculpture Fountain No 2
Forrestfield WA

Gumnut Sculpture Fountain No 3
High Wycombe WA

The Gumnut Fountain Series

Creates: Smith Scultpors

Artists: Charles Smith and Joan Walsh-Smith

Client: Shire of Kalamunda

Dates: Between 2003 and 2008

Background:

The shire of Kalamunda Commissioned Smith Sculptors to create 3 sculptors for 3 round abouts located in the Shire of Kalamunda:

1.Kalamunda – Roundabout at Kalamunda Road and Canning Road 

2.Forrestfield – Roundabout at Hale Road and Reynolds road 

3.High Wycombe – Roundabout at Kalamunda Road and Newburn Road

'Where the City Meets the Bush'

The concept of the gumnut fountain series in Kalamunda was born from the idea of celebrating and commemorating the ethos od the Shire of Kalamunda which literally is based on these words and which is also the basis of their logo.

Kalamunda is uniquely situated in the beautiful ‘ interworld ‘ between the harsh reality of the concrete and bitumen ‘ City ‘ and the more remote and inhospitable outer regions of the rural areas which surround this special environment. Great and small, Eucalyptus trees  and shrubs inhabit this space and welcome both the local inhabitants and visitors into their enveloping fold.

As artists asked to interpret this by the Shire of Kalamunda, we responded with 3 dimensional sculptural forms which we designed to express the beauty of this place and the special nature of the Eucalyptus species: a unique forest of gumnuts and leaves, found shimmering in the rain. To use, and to the people who respond to our concept so positively, this is an expression of a world, precious and unique with inspiration to preserve these special places, now so few and far between.

This commission has been a special privilege for us as artists and an unique opportunity to respond ‘ to a brief’  in real and imitative terms, beyond the usual

Joan Walsh-Smith
Charles Smith