Anne Ross (Australian sculptor) explained

Anne Ross (born 1959)[1] is an Australian sculptor,[2] whose large fanciful bronze statues figure prominently in various public places. Based in Bayside, Melbourne, she is recognised for her whimsical and humorous artworks that blend elements of the human and non-human.[3] [4]

Career

Ross suffered a childhood illness for a year in which she drew intensively. She went on to study the medium in 1981, and a few years later enrolled at the Victoria College Prahran campus, majoring in sculpture, and graduated in 1991. Ross's training in foundry techniques enables her to produce work more quickly than can those sculptors who rely on others for the industrial processes required in production of large-scale sculpture.[5]

She received a grant from the Australia Council in 1992 and samples of her work were included in the Moet & Chandon touring exhibition in 1994. As of 1999 she had a studio at Gasworks Arts Park in South Melbourne, where her installation Not Without Chomley remains a popular exhibit.[6]

In 2023 Bayside Gallery mounted a survey of Ross's work, curated by Joanna Bosse and with a catalogue essay that highlights Ross's preoccupation with 'pathos and humour within the themes of companionship, belonging and self-containment through the medium of bronze.'

Works

Ross has been commissioned for public installations including the $80,000 The Resting Place (1999) for the City of Kingston which, as reported in The Australian Jewish News, was her then largest work and based on her research into the indigenous name for the district mooorooboon, a factor acknowledged by the mayor as a reason 'the artist was chosen for her skill and the enormous enthusiasm she brought to the project. She references aspects of local contemporary and historical cultural life within the piece in subtle and humorous ways.'

Known for the anthropomorphic characterisations of her subjects, Ross's submission in the McClelland Contemporary Sculpture Survey of 2006 attracted critic Ashley Crawford's comment that it 'looks cute from afar, but upon approach the mongrels turn on the viewer with deep growls; one almost expects them to start frothing at the mouth.'[7]

Dance of the Platypus (2001) in the City of Wyndham, On the Road Again (2011) in Lyons, ACT,[8] [9] followed, and The Other Side of Midnight (2012) in Canberra,[10] was funded by the Australian Capital Territory government's Percent for Art scheme, which commenced in 1978 to commit 1 percent of new capital works annually to public art projects. The program was subject to controversy during the 2008 election and discontinued in 2009, so The Other Side of Midnight with three other sculptors' works were kept in storage until, as announced in The Age and in other media Arts Minister Joy Burch 'unveiled the whimsical $187,000 work 'The Other Side of Midnight' by Melbourne artist Anne Ross in City Walk on December 4.'[11]

Ross's other public works include Midnight (2015), at the University of Wollongong, Summertime (2017) in the City of Bayside,[12] Taken Not Given (2018) in Melbourne[13] [14], and the multi-piece Lost and Found (2019) along the Pier Promenade of Frankston City.[15] [16]

Ross was also commissioned to create A is for Alexander B is for Bunyip C is for Canberra (2011),[17] a reference to the 1972 children's book The Monster that Ate Canberra by Michael Salmon,[18] the inspiration for the ABC-TV children's series Alexander Bunyip's Billabong. The statue was installed adjacent the public library,[19] Gungahlin, Australian Capital Territory and launched by Jon Stanhope MLA on 13 April 2011. Within three years maintenance costing over $5,000 was deemed necessary.[20]

Ross contributed a much smaller bronze bunyip to the American Natural History Museum, New York City.

The artwork Boing II (1995), has been acquired by Artbank as part of the Australian Government Office for the Arts contemporary Australian art collection.[21]

In 2016, the "playful" sculpture M is for Market, was commissioned by the Dandenong Market, Creative Victoria and the City of Greater Dandenong to commemorate the Market's 150th birthday. [22]

In 2023, the three-part sculpture She gave me a daisy was featured at Billilla Mansion Gardens[23] and later in the Mars Gallery Christmas Exhibition catalogue.

Exhibitions

Solo

Group

Collections

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Anne ROSS . University of Wollongong Collection . 25 November 2024 . en.
  2. Web site: Anne Ross : Australian Art and Artists file . 30 November 2024 . State Library of Victoria.
  3. Web site: Tribune . The National . 2023-07-18 . New peachy sculptures brightening Billilla . 2024-12-03 . The National Tribune . en-AU.
  4. Web site: Christmas 2023 . December 2023 . Mars Gallery .
  5. News: Gocs . Danny . 11 June 1999 . $80,000 sculpture at Southland . 25 November 2024 . . Victoria, Australia . 5 (What's on) . National Library of Australia . 65 . 37.
  6. Book: Robert Grogan . Gasworks to Gasworks . 57 . "Sculpture in the Park". 15 November 2018 .
  7. News: Crawford . Ashley . 8 January 2006 . McClelland Sculptural Survey . 30 November 2024 . The Age.
  8. Web site: On the Road Again . 22 August 2022 . 26 November 2024.
  9. News: Doherty . Megan . 22 March 2012 . Keep art of the city pumping: Stanhope . The Age.
  10. Web site: The Other Side of Midnight . artsACT . 25 November 2024 . en . 18 August 2022.
  11. News: Doherty . Megan . 15 December 2012 . Denial art delayed to avoid poll pain . 30 November 2024 . The Age.
  12. Web site: Sculpture - patinated bronze, Anne Ross, Summertime, 2017 . Victorian Collections . 25 November 2024 . en.
  13. Web site: Taken Not Given . City Collection . 25 November 2024 . 15 September 2021.
  14. Web site: 26 October 2018 . Unveiling of the Memorial Statue in Melbourne 26th October 2018 . 30 November 2024 . ARMS (Victoria).
  15. Web site: 3 December 2024 . Frankston City Guide . 2024-12-03 . Frankston City Council.
  16. Web site: 2019-10-14 . lost and found - frankston city council . 2024-12-03 . Anne Ross . en-AU.
  17. Web site: A is for Alexander B is for Bunyip C . artsACT . 25 November 2024 . en . 18 August 2022.
  18. Book: Salmon, Michael . The Monster That Ate Canberra . Halstead Press . 2011 . 9781920831882 . Australia.
  19. Book: Redmond, Shirley-Raye . Bunyips . KidHaven Press . 2011 . 9780737760101 . Detroit, Mich. . 34–35.
  20. News: Public Art Schemes Leave Costly Repair Bills . The Canberra Times. 12 September 2023.
  21. Web site: 3 December 2024 . Anne Ross, Boing II, 1995 . Artbank.
  22. News: Greater Dandenong Leader . 18 November 2016 . Dandenong Market unveils sculpture ‘M is for Market’ by artist Anne Ross to celebrate 150th birthday . Herald Sun.
  23. Web site: July 2023 . Billilla Mansion Gardens art activation: Lightboxes and Anne Ross' three-part sculpture 'She gave me a daisy' . Bayside City Council.
  24. News: Makin . Jeff . 16 October 2006 . Beauty and the Beasts, The Idea of the Animal . Herald Sun . 16.
  25. News: Nelson . Robert . 8 October 2003 . Bring Out the Big Guns . The Age . A3 12.
  26. Scarlett . Ken . Spring 1999 . Melbourne Feature : The Foundry Challenge . World Sculpture News . 5 . 1 . 64.
  27. News: Lancashire . Rebecca . 22 May 1991 . review . The Age.

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