Matt Calvert - Beacon

Description

Beacon by Matt Calvert from Tasmania

This sculptural glass tower and compass marker incorporates and celebrates the maritime history of Port Philip Bay. Beacon celebrates the connection of the sea and the land, acting as a marker of the way, a directional pointer in the landscape — a place marker.

The work is both a contemporary lighthouse and compass. The corten band and internal steel work that provides the structural support for the glass acts as the directional points of north, south, east and west.

Sculptor Matt Calvert states: “Numerous channel markers and beacons have stood in and around the fringes of Port Phillip Bay since early European settlement. Back in those days Frankston was more accessible by boat than track, and the sea was a major thoroughfare for traders, fishermen and early settlers.

Located on the Eel Race Road Underpass, Seaford

Unveiled by Frankston City Council Mayor Nathan Conroy, September 2022

Materials: Corten steel base and laminated glass

Dimensions: 8 metres high

About the Artist: 

The sculpture is 8 metres in height, made of corten steel at the base and completed by laminated plate glass.

This has become Matt’s signature material. It is a waste product from the building industry and would otherwise end up in landfill – giving this sculpture strong environmental credentials, as well as its intrinsic qualities of beauty, versatility and durability.

Matt graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Fine Art (first class honours) in 1993. He was awarded a Samstag Scholarship to Goldsmiths College, University of London, where he completed a Master of Art degree in 1994.

After residencies in Paris, Malaysia and Japan earlier in his career, Matt’s practice now focuses on small and large-scale public and private commissions that feature recycled, toughened glass, sometimes in conjunction with corten steel and aluminium.

Matt sources his glass from waste material, smashes it up in his studio in aptly-named Glaziers Bay in southern Tasmania, and reconfigures it using a cold fusion, flat mould lamination technique. A recurring theme in Matt’s work revolves around roadside tributes and memorials, referring to the loss of his father in a car accident when he (Matt) was only seven years old and featuring in the work selected for the 2014 McClelland Sculpture Survey, Dieback.

A regular finalist in major Australian sculpture awards over the past 15 years, he won the Montalto Sculpture Prize in 2015 for the work Pointing Girl. His work is held in public and private collections in Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the United States.

Beacon by artist Matt Calvert was commissioned by Frankston City Council.

Click here to read more about Matt's work