Artists forge French connection

DIVING experience with manta rays has sparked a life-long friendship that proves while the ocean may keep people apart, it also brings them together.

Beachport resident Monica Redden was a passenger on a cruise to Western Australia’s Coral Bay in 2009 when she befriended French sculptor Dominique “Dume” Paolini and his former partner Celine Gorget.

“We went out to swim with the manta rays and we met Dume and Celine,” Ms Redden said.

“They told me they were travelling around Australia and I said well if you are coming through South Australia call in to Beachport.

“They stopped by and were only supposed to be here for one night, but I managed to convince them to stay for a week.”

It was then that Ms Redden discovered Dume was a sculptor and suggested he return to the seaside town the following year to create a piece for the Beachport Festival By The Sea.

Dume has not looked back since, forging a strong connection with locals and working alongside the Beachport arts group to design a number of artworks, which have left their mark in the coastal community.

His first collaborative piece with Beachport in 2010 was Native Vision – a whale sculpture – which now proudly stands on the foreshore overlooking Rivoli Bay.

Over the years the partnership between Dume and the town has evolved with a “walk of art” transforming the lagoon parkland area and showcasing the talent and creativity of South East residents.

In his most recent visit – which was last month- the French artist worked with arts group members on a number of pieces using locally sourced materials including limestone, driftwood and jetty timber.

“Dume moved from France to Corsica and the Corsica Council provided him with funds to form a partnership with Beachport,” Ms Redden said.

“We started by hosting some public meetings, from which Dume wanted to listen to our feelings about Corsica before we started working on our own sculptures.

“There will be nine sculptures in this project and the designs will come from each individual.

“We kind of all have the same idea of using the local limestone, the jetty timbers, driftwood and stuff like that because we are all loosely connected with the swimming group so we spend a lot of time on the beach and a lot of the materials we are using have come from beach finds.

“There is also another theme running through it and the central theme for that is the mountain, which Dume is working on and represents Corsica.”

Residents have spent upwards of three hours a day working on their pieces and recently took up residence in the old Country Fire Service shed on Foster Street.

For some artists the work started last year when Dume visited, however others waited for inspiration to strike.

“I decided I wanted to get lintels, but mine sat around for some time because I was not quite sure what I was going to do with it,” Ms Redden said.

“When Dume returned this year with the central idea of Corsica we all got inspired and suddenly what we wanted to do and how we wanted to work it came to us.”

Speaking to The South Eastern Times, Dume said he was already planning his next trip to Beachport in 2020, adding he “really loved” the town from the from the moment he arrived.

“It is a really, really efficient town, everybody will work together and find something for another person if they need it,” Dume said.

“I stopped for a few days in 2009 and then in the beginning of 2010 the Beachport District Development Association called me in France and asked me to make a sculpture about Beachport and the community.

“In 2010 I completed my first project on the foreshore and it was the first time I worked not only with my emotions, but the emotions of other people – it was an incredible experience and they organised their feelings in the sculpture so it was a target for me.

“It was really magic and after that I came back and then they visited me in France and then I came back and it went from there, we built a really good connection.”

The project is the biggest the group has set their sights on and consists of one central piece of artwork – created by Dume – along with nine other sculptures- created by residents.

It is anticipated the work will be installed at the lagoon parklands early next year.