Art in the landscape - Sculpture on the Gulf

6 March 2017

John Goodwin

Boffa Miskell Landscape Architect Partner, John Goodwin was interviewed about his involvement with the biennial exhibition, Sculpture on the Gulf.

What is the Sculpture on the Gulf exhibition?

It is a biennial outdoor temporary sculpture exhibition, associated with a two-kilometre walk around Matiatia Bay on Waiheke Island. It is a non-profit event owned by the Waiheke Community Arts Trust and run by a small management team and a board of directors.


What is your role and why did you get involved?

I’ve volunteered my services, as the Director of Community Engagement and Consents, responsible for providing technical advice, assisting with planning and obtaining the resource consents needed for this year’s event.

For me, the exhibition represents a synergy between my professional and personal interests. As a landscape architect, I specialise in evaluating landscape and visual effects, advising on site and route selection, and providing integrated design solutions on a range of projects in both rural and urban settings.

I’ve worked with a number of artists through my career and feel that by placing of fascinating artwork in the Waiheke landscape a wonderful combination of visual experiences can be created.

What is involved in gaining consents?

With around 50-60,000 people participating in the walk this year, a lot of pressure is put on the Waiheke infrastructure, so the organisational team face a multi-faceted approval process, that requires working with the board, local iwi, the community arts trust, ATEED’s event management team and Auckland Council’s consents team. Needless to say, health and safety considerations are an important aspect as well as logistics.

There were sensitivities around ground disturbance, which could result from installing some artworks and the pavilion, because Matiatia Bay is an important ancestral area for the local iwi, Ngati Paoa, containing a number of waahi tapu and urupa sites.

As part of Boffa Miskell’s in-kind sponsorship, our cultural advisor Eynon Delamere assisted in consulting with the iwi to work through these potential issues and our GIS specialist, Sandeep Gangar, produced the maps that were used for consent and communications plans to iwi and council.


What do you think about the exhibition’s future?

The standard of artworks is constantly improving and the event has established a great reputation after 8 events since its inception in 2003.

It’s a big job coordinating the selection of artists. From around 250 expressing interest for this year’s event just 34 were finally selected by a committee of arts and cultural experts. From sourcing artists, to gaining resource consents, obtaining the finances to run the event and the event management itself, each exhibition is two years in the making.

The purchase of sculptures contributes to the financial viability of the event, along with sponsorship and donations, with any proceeds going back into the Waiheke Community Arts Trust.

We’re pleased to be supporting such a dedicated team which, with the help of local volunteers, makes a day out on the sculpture trail a popular and inspiring event.