Hunter residents are being told to watch the skies over Maitland as Patricia Piccinini’s ‘Skywhales: Every heart sings’ display comes to the city.
The experience will take to the skies on Saturday January 15, with the famous floating Skywhale and its new companion SkyWhalepapa setting off at dawn from Maitland’s No.1 Sportsground.
Residents are invited to the Sportsground from 4.30am to watch the spectacle unfold, with balloon inflation expected to take 90 minutes before the sculpture’s finally take flight over Maitland from 6.00am onward.
Skywhale and Skywhalepapa are two hot air balloon sculptures by artist Patricia Piccinini that tower at seven storeys in height.
Locals across the Hunter have been invited to join the spectacle’s pre-dawn festivities at what Maitland council has called the “once in a lifetime community event.”
Attendees can expect food and coffee vendors on site, and have been encouraged to bring a blanket and thermos before sitting back to watch the pair rise from the ground and come to life in the glow of sunrise.
The display is one of two major events Maitland Regional Art Gallery’s Director Gerry Bobsien says aim to create a “real buzz” in Maitland this summer.
“We can’t wait to see the skies come alive with the world famous flying Skywhales.”
“Skywhales is part of Free Art January at the Gallery, where we have more than three weeks of art workshops, activities, talks, and exhibitions for the whole family to enjoy,” she said.
Bobsien said this month of art is supported generously by the MRAG members and the gallery’s education partner Cleverpatch.
“We look forward to sharing a Summer of art with the Maitland community and showcasing what the City has to offer for tourists and visitors.”
The original Skywhale balloon was commissioned as part of the celebration of Canberra’s centenary in 2013, and debuted in the Australian capital that year.
While it has been the subject of international acclaim and has appeared in nations like Japan, Ireland and Brazil, it has not toured without controversy.
The unconventional design, featuring several large udders, has elicited mixed responses from onlookers, with Australian Capital Territory’s former Chief Minister Katy Gallagher saying that her eyes “nearly fell out of her head” when she first saw The Skywhale concept.
Artist Paccinini revealed her inspiration behind the designs, asking “what if evolution went a different way and instead of going back into the sea, from which they came originally, [whales] went into the air and we evolved a nature that could fly instead of swim …”
The spectacle’s website further justified the design, claiming “wings didn’t make sense to Patricia; the creature was too big and the technical limitations of balloon design wouldn’t allow them anyway. So she took a cue from the balloon itself, and imagined that the creature might somehow secrete a lighter than air gas …”
“In the place of wings Paccinini imagined huge udders that might contain the gas, as well as a huge bulbous body. She imagined the creature with a slightly more human face, with a calm benign expression that would inspire empathy rather than fear.”
The website says the sculptors aim was to create a being “that was massive and wondrous and that exists somewhere between the impossible and the unlikely.”
This large-scale community event is a touring initiative of the National Gallery of Australia and is supported by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and Visions of Australia.
While free, bookings remain essential through the Maitland Regional Art Gallery website.