Friday 2 March 2012

The village smithy


Yesterday, I introduced you to plein-air painter, Jane Bennett, working in the heritage bays down at the Australian Technology Park, in the suburb of Eveleigh. Today - and tomorrow - I shall have a crack at showing you what I was trying to get at with the expression 'the body electric'.


This is Chris, one of the artisans from Wrought Artworks, established in 1987 - who converted the old smithy area of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops and now maintain and work it under the aegis of the Australian Technology Park. There aren't many wrought iron foundrys left in Sydney. This one is worth a visit. The relationship with the ATP has not always been plain sailing, but wrinkles seem to have been ironed out. For those who would like to understand more, I have appended a doco about Wrought Artworks.


19 comments:

Halcyon said...

Great portraits. The smithy seems so focused on his work.

Luis Gomez said...

Great set of shots Julie!

EG CameraGirl said...

Great location for a smithy. I liked how the video took us into the ironworks and then brought us out again.

Stefan Jansson said...

A very good portrait of Chris. You can clearly see how concentrated he is.

Kay L. Davies said...

I'd be terrified of that hair catching fire.
Great shots, Julie.
K

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

Great photos, Julie, but like Kay I am very anxious about long hair like that in that dangerous work area that he is in...

Carole M. said...

fabulous series of photography

freefalling said...

Whoa baby!
Chris has got nice arms!
(I do love a good arm)
Hair - meh, not so much.
A little creature could pop out of there.

Julie said...

What I really liked, Letty, was his 'tote-that-barge-lift-that-bale' approach to his job.

And the way he sorta bounced ... on the balls of his feet ... even when wielding a mega-mallety-thing ...

Ann said...

Fantastic. Had no idea that was there. Thought ATP was purely a conference centre these days.

Julie said...

It has a lot of conference areas, but it is also the home of 'clean' technology - university research-tanks, IT-research, etc. But there is also Bays 1 and 2 which memorialise the old railway workshops, and house the 3801.

In addition, this is where the Saturday Eveleigh Farmers' Markets is held, and the monthly Artisans' Markets. It is massive, and a photographer's dream.

Eat yer heart out ... *grin* ...

Peter said...

A beaut photo of a craftsman at work, like the paintings on show too.

diane b said...

Great shots, colour especially. That work sure gives big muscles and long hair.

Julie said...

*grom* ... mmm ... I can understand the big muskles ... but pray tell ... how does the job affect the length of his hair ... a Samson complex perhaps?

Joan Elizabeth said...

Look at the the length of that guys hair. My dad was a blacksmith and I know how hot the forge is ... why a person would willingly wear a "rug" around them while doing such hot work I can't imagine.

Joan Elizabeth said...

I enjoyed the video too. I've been to conferences out there. Perhaps all the bing-bing of hammers on metal annoys conference attendees.

Julie said...

The conference rooms are way down the other end. I feel sure you would not hear the noise this chaps make, Joan.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Tres interesting video Julie, you just don't think about things like who restores iron work on heritage buildings and such. I like so much that the techniques that they're using to do these restorations is still true to the old ways. The lady with the NZ accent (love it, can't miss it!!) was saying they might be evicted, how would they fight that? Public support?

Julie said...

Grace: yes, there was a push a couple of years ago for them to be evicted. It did not happen. They aroused public support through the media, and negotiations about the site continued. the site, to my mind, is an uneasy mix of heritage and future. But if these Heritage Days continue, and are supported by the public, then the power balance might be more even.