Driftwood Shores housing estate at Tuross Head will become the new home of a prize-winning sculpture by Speers Point artist, Michael Greve. Jeff McCloy, the head of McCloy Group developers purchased the prize-winning whale sculpture "Bleeching", a timber statue of a leaping whale by Speers Point artist, Michael Greve, by way of the Fort Scratchley art exhibition Michael Greveby says of his sculpture: (https://michaelgrevesculptor.com.au/portfolio/bleechingwhale/) : On inspection I estimated that the uprooted tree weighed over twenty tonnes and had been dead for over ten years. She felt perfect for something I had been considering for some time.
Phone calls and emails to councils, Vic Roads and the adjacent landowner finally released the fallen tree into my care.
Days of cutting, exposed the primary mass with the remainder rendered into firewood.
A massive slip tray dragged her onboard and off to Wallan and a lovely site on a 900 acre farm in the hills “not mine”.
As flitches came away before the saw the beautiful natural coil within the log flowed out, as I cut through the layers of timber the timeline of the tree would emerge in the form of historic white ant invasion and subsequent regrowth. All this hundreds of years before the limb culling that took place with the erection of the electrical conduit.
A trip to Byalong supplied the top fin, gifted to me by a lovely farming family.
A three day trip on the tray of a 1984 1800c Acco “Bleaching” arrived at the work site in an old coal mine in Teralba. Here the steel frame and pin installation were completed.
Up until this point all the carving had been done on the ground. Everything came into focus when “Bleaching” went upright with the first impressions very encouraging.
As layers of wood, some the size of a skiffle board were removed; the form was refining nicely.
The fin cavities and fluting continued the exposure and with the fins in place “Bleaching” took flight, coiling through the natural form of the trunk.
I could feel the finished sculpture.
Positioning and cross checking until pleased with the appearance meant the work was complete.
Many wonderful people have given me materials, advice and technical help making this sculpture and to them all I am most grateful.
Above: Bleeching by Michael Greve (more images HERE)
