Local artist Harrie Fasher is excited after being chosen to create a sculpture for Oberon’s commemorations of 100 years since World War 1.
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“I moved here four years ago and the community have embraced me and I love living here,” she said.
“Living west of the Blue Mountains you have the space and time and yet you are only three hours from Sydney, 40 minutes from Bathurst and four hours from Canberra.
“Initially I submitted a sketch of what I thought would be fitting and The Light Horse was a popular choice.
“The brief was to reflect the cultural significance of the Anzacs and to design something that worked with the site and functions of the sub branch.”
Harrie said she hoped everyone enjoyed her art.
“Art allows people to respond in their own way. For the viewer they can interpret it as they wish. Art creates an avenue for an emotional interpretation,” she said.
The Light Horse is made of steel rods and plates and stands 3.6 metres tall.
“It was a huge challenge to have it finished on time, but thanks to my studio assistant Nicole O’Regan, a local steel fabricator, we completed the project in time for the centenary celebrations,” she said.
“A horse is a direct link to the Australian landscape and the sculpture looks down at the viewer with a pensive look – one of loss and sadness.
“Horse sculptures are my passion, they have a historical significance embodying both beauty and grace alongside strength and facility. It’s an animal that has beauty, grace, strength and fragility.”
Harrie said she hoped the sculpture encouraged people to stop and ponder, to question why it’s there and to think about current and past servicemen and women.
Harrie has held several workshops in the area over the past three years. These have been supported by Country Arts Support Program, which is administered by Regional Arts boards on behalf of the NSW Government, and facilitated by Friends of Oberon Library. The newest workshop Women of Steel, to be held on April 18 and 19, promises some skilled and imaginative entries in Oberon’s Waste to Art Competition.
“It has become a series, the Welding Women of the West workshops,” she said.
“We get our hands dirty handling steel and participants learn to use a welder and a grinder.”
She said rural women are surrounded by steel in old farm machinery and fence posts.
Last year Harrie was selected to exhibit in Sculptures by the Sea in Bondi and the National Museum of Australia.
Harrie will have work on display at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in June and Paddingtons’ Maunsell Wickes Gallery in July.
