Artist: The Late Jim Ridgeway & Sue Stewart with members of the community.
Artwork Name: The Meeting Place
Medium: concrete, commercial tiles, handmade tiles, slip, underglaze, synthetic polymer paint, Feeny's red raku, native grasses, rytholite
Date Created: 2003
A significant component of a larger project from 2003 Lake’s Edge project was the development of the Meeting Place.
Through discussions with the Aboriginal Reference Group, local community members expressed a desire to have a symbolic ‘meeting place’ by the Lake.
This permanent installation uses mosaics, ceramics, paving and native grasses to symbolise a coming together of cultures. Designed and constructed during workshops, it accesses information recorded through informal story-telling sessions. It is a place of reflection, and as such was dedicated to the late Uncle Cyril Archibald, a respected local Elder.
The Meeting Place now stands as a place for reflection in the Sculpture Park grounds for all to enjoy as well as serving as a permanent reminder of the work from the Aboriginal Reference Group and its members.
Commissioned by Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, 2001. Supported by the Australian Council for the Arts.