Sculptor Julie Park with her debut piece for Castaways 2017.
Camera IconSculptor Julie Park with her debut piece for Castaways 2017. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Singleton artist to make Rockingham Castaways debut

Gabrielle JefferyWeekend Kwinana Courier

MAKING her debut into the Castaways Exhibition is Singleton resident Julie Park.

Being an intrepid trekker, it is fitting her first piece represents climbing a mountain.

Made from discarded wooden pieces from a neighbour’s build and from verge collections, it took just under a six months to create.

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“We went on a trip to Nepal, and at certain peaks there were these Buddhist places with prayer flags,” she said.

“Donkeys are the only ones who make it up the thin paths and they are constantly going up packed with supplies.

“They walk across these thin steel rope bridges so calmly.

“The sculpture represents us climbing up the mountain. You can’t breathe in places and you have all seasons in one day – sun, rain, snow, rocky paths with drop-offs.

“It’s a little bit up and a little bit down and exhilarating when you make it to a peak.

“It took me about three months to ‘come back down’ after the climb so it was good to be working on this for five months.”

She said the dome took the majority of time to make having to continually sand it down, shape it then layer it up.

“My least favourite part of making it was the sewing of the prayer flags,” she said.

Mrs Park has been doing woodwork for about 15 years.

“I made two figures in child pose that inspired me to do the whole piece also,” she said.

“I have gone onto carving now – I just like doing things with wood.”

“It just involved me – kept me going for five-and-a-half months.”

Castaways curator Lyn Dicero said with less than a week until opening her role was to keep people calm.

“We do try to make sure everyone feels calm and not too nervous especially now with the event just a week away,” she said.

“Being the 10th anniversary, it’s good to reflect on the success of Castaways,” she said.

“The City of Rockingham puts a lot of work into it behind the scenes. It started as a small exhibition of about four sculptures in a marquee as part of the Australia Day celebrations.

“But the City decided it would be good as a stand-alone event and so Castaways was born.”