SWELL!

Let’s Go Down Under For Art! 

Frankly, with all my global travels, Australia wasn’t a destination I had pursued.

While it looks beautiful, and actually my grandfather lived there for a year, and I have cousins who lived there for many years, as well as friends whose careers had taken them there, I just hadn’t felt a big pull to go.

That has suddenly changed.

Right now, a fantastical art show is underway down under!

Entitled “SWELL,” the 22^nd annual SWELL Sculpture Festival is a free and all-inclusive 10-day outdoor sculpture exhibition, “by the people for the people” according to the show’s founders.

This year, more than 60 large-scale sculptures are exhibited along a gorgeous stretch of beach.

From morning until night, visitors can enjoy all this art in an outdoor “gallery” show at no charge.  That’s right #Frieze, the show is free for visitors.

As SWELL has grown and flourished, it now attracts more than 200,000 people and includes artist talks, music, and a “smalls” gallery for small-scale sculptures.

Each of the artists is competing for one of several cash prizes, but that apparently is far from the point!

I’ve linked a video in my comment below which gives you a feel for the show, as well as explaining that this festival has made Queensland itself into a passionate art community.

SWELL provides artists with a setting and an audience through which they can create huge and imaginative sculptures, many of which have launched or greatly bolstered the artist’s careers.

SWELL was created in 2002 by Natasha Edwards and Kylie Mitchell-Smith as a shared idea to create a new art experience.

SWELL was established as a nonprofit arts organization.  Natasha Edwards continues her role as co Founder, Artistic Director and Curator of SWELL.

In addition to my passion for visiting SWELL, I also see this as being a fantastic concept for #NewportBeach and other beach cities around the world.

Check out their website, also in my comment below, to see some of the largest and most joyful and imaginative sculptures from previous shows!

If you have the time and the budget to jump there now, I’d suggest it.

And let me know if you want to meet me there in September of 2025.  I’m definitely going down under next year!!

They naturally are open to commissions for their public pieces, and are finding that their work really touches the community.

Watch this video to see how amazing their artwork is, and how much the public enjoys it.