An innovative art trail that adorns the Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, foreshore and creates a national tourist attraction for the City was unveiled last month at Warners Bay.
CREATIVE Lake is a permanent outdoor exhibition featuring seven sculptures and murals that line 27 km of the lake foreshore from Belmont to Toronto.
Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Kay Fraser, said the art trail is one of the most significant permanent collections of outdoor artworks in regional Australia.
“This unique art trail is designed to raise the destination profile of the City while providing opportunities for the community to enjoy and interact with contemporary art.
“We are encouraging people to engage with the artworks and expect the sculptures and murals to be widely featured in selfies and holiday snaps.”
It features a collection of work by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists including Naidee Changmoh, Guan Wei and Guy Maestri.
Located in popular recreational areas, the artworks include a bronze sky pig, Charles Darwin bust, a bronze three-metre high young monk, a granite beach blossom sculpture, a bronze dinghy and two fun 3D murals.
The permanent outdoor exhibition was developed by Council with the support of a $285,000 grant from the 2017-2018 Tourism Demand Driver Infrastructure program, a Commonwealth-funded initiative administered by the State Government to support projects that drive demand and increase local tourism expenditure.
The art trail will feature prominently in Council’s new Love Art, Love the Lake tourism campaign, which showcases key cultural, gallery and heritage sites of interest. It will also complement the planned Speers Point Multi Arts Space and Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery expansion, which together received $2 million in State Government funding in June 2018.
