When Natasha Edwards stood on Currumbin Beach moments before the very first SWELL Sculpture Festival opened, all she could think about was whether anyone would actually come.
It seems like a crazy notion now, 13 years later, where hundreds of thousands of people regularly attend the event.
“It was organised chaos,” Natasha said of that time. She had two children – a toddler and a baby.
“Like all working parents, I juggled life, and the late nights gave me time to think.”
“I knew once I had children that I wanted to create or be part of something that was going to have a creative influence on them – so they could have that as part of their upbringing,” Natasha said.
When I asked Natasha why she chose a sculpture event she said she gets asked that a lot.
“My dad was an artist so I guess I was inspired by him,” she said.
“As children we were always encouraged to read, play music, paint, draw, but also just to play. And we played a lot outside as kids – climb trees, build cubby houses that were quite elaborate. I always had my hands in things, getting grubby.”
Swell sculpture. Image: Lamp photography
Natasha Edwards
Artist: Mariana Martin "Journey Music" image: Rowly Emmett
Natasha Edwards
Natasha Edwards
Artist: Jak Henson "Remember When We Used to go to the Beach" Image: Rowly Emmett
Sunrise at Swell Sculpture Festival. Image: @my_australian_life
Natasha came to holiday here on the Gold Coast when she was 14. She had saved up her own money to come to Currumbin Beach and felt a special connection back then. Her family moved to Currumbin when she was 16 and she studied at Palm Beach Currumbin High, which is where she met the father of her kids.
When she landed a job after school in an architect’s firm her role was supposed to be secretarial but she spent most of her time out the back with architects working on designs, gaining a lot of experience about doing creative business in the process.
And while she studied commerce and other business courses formally it seems her passion shone through right from the beginning.
“I took a lot of courses in sculpture,” she laughs, before adding to the list… “lead-lighting, metalwork, woodwork, pottery, life drawing, painting.”
“I had been to festivals in Melbourne – they were a big part of my upbringing and they happened every weekend. But for me memories of going to the markets at Prahran or Queen Victoria Markets were like a festival. The smell, the colours, the multicultural vibrancy of those places, the languages – and that was just to go shopping.”
“My family would take us to galleries and exhibitions, some of them my dad would exhibit. We’d go to kite festivals where we actually built the kites. And hot air balloon festivals where we’d go hot air ballooning.”
“I loved being by the sea. In Melbourne where I grew up, I spent all weekends and summer holidays at Sandringham, down at the marina looking at boats and I had a dream that one day I’d live by the sea. When I moved to Currumbin it didn’t take me long to join the sailing club, I love to sail.”
“When I had my children I’d love to go visit art galleries and I found that with two young kids we’d walk into the gallery and you’d see the tension in people’s faces. There was that angst – I’d really want to go in there but I have to take my children and they’re going to touch EVERYTHING.”
It was at that point in Natasha’s life that she met fellow mum of two, Kylie Mitchell-Smith. She’d just moved to the Gold Coast from Sydney and it was literally a case of two mums shooting the breeze in a playground while there kids ran around.
“We had an instant connection,” Natasha said. “We really wanted to get involved in the arts at a large scale and it didn’t take long before we were discussing how that was going to play out and what we were going to do.”
“It was obvious,” Natasha said. “Outdoor sculpture was the way to go and Currumbin offered a beautiful backdrop for a sculpture exhibition.”
“It almost seemed like a new medium, even though we knew it wasn’t. But it wasn’t a medium that had been embraced here on the coast, not on the scale we were discussing.”
She says her mum is her rock never wavering in her support, but when she told her parents she was going to start a sculpture exhibition on the beach it was her dad who said “build it and they will come.”
And did they come?
“Wow,” Natasha said. “It was a natural high. We were running on adrenelin. Four boys under four, trying to convince City of Gold Coast that we were actually building the biggest cultural event on the city’s calendar,” she laughs.
She said it was hard work and that the hard work has never stopped. You don’t just build a sculpture exhibition. Natasha tells of driving around for months – visiting studios, meeting artists, phoning them, meetings, conversations, coffees and lots and lots of questions, ideas, concerns.
“Really it was always face-to-face contact and I honestly believe to this day that it’s the best way to communicate with someone.”
Natasha estimates that 6000 people attended SWELL Sculpture Festival in its first year. “We were blown away,” she said. “And I still have that same drive and passion for what I do now.”
Fast forward 13 years to SWELL Sculpture Festival 2015 and Natasha gets teary talking about it.
“I still find myself saying ‘gee, I hope people come’ but they always do.”
“We have endless energy but there are times when we are just completely exhausted too.”
“I spend so much time leading into it, working within so many different aspects of the exhibition, right up to the last minute, it’s like a slow heatwave of people coming through.”
“It’s quite overwhelming – it makes me feel very proud and I do get emotional now. Thinking about how far the exhibition has grown organically and the diversity of the artwork and also the stories that ring true – that really do define the culture of who we are and how we…” she takes a breath.
“It was like 268,000 people this year,” she said, still emotional.
“It’s nice to see that over 13 years our babies are now teenagers and they’re still enjoying the exhibition and feeling connected to the artwork and responding to the messages the artists are saying. They have opinions on the pieces.”
“They have been part of creating, joined in workshops, helped shape the whole exhibition to where it is today,” she said.
And she’s not lying. When you visit SWELL it’s not just Natasha’s children but an enormous family made up of artists, volunteers and other committed people who make up team who help make it all that it is.
Not least of which is Ruth Della who shares the strategic leadership role with Natasha.
Kate Clarke plays a project management role. I know from personal interactions that Natasha, Ruth and Kate are all talented artists in their own right.
“It’s a team effort,” Natasha adds, commenting on the large number of people who bring the event to life every year.
“We have an amazing supportive board plus a hands-on committee who make up the project team. Then we have people who come in for specialist roles for the peak Festival period.”
She calls Ruth, who joined the team in the event’s early days, her conscientious counterpart and says she’s been instrumental in the exhibition’s development.
“We share a great love for SWELL, the artists it represents and the community it brings together,” Natasha said. “We are a rock solid team, with a long standing friendship, we enjoy the collaboration and we are passionate and driven to deliver an exhibition for everyone.”
Artist: Monte lupo "vertumnus". Image: Kit Wise
Mike Van Dam atop his Dragon sculpture
Sun Spirit Sculpture
Sunrise at Swell Sculpture Festival. Image: @my_australian_life
Keeping up with Kalashnikovs by Daniel Clemmett image: Lexi Spooner
Tunnel van de Liefde by Georges Cuvillier image: Kit Wise Photography
Air Filled Celluloid Cloud By Clayton Blake image: Steve Fitchett Photography
“It has its own life, we talk about it as if it’s its own entity. I’m just one of the people that still takes care of it,” Natasha said.
“We all look out for it.”
Also on the list of people looking out for SWELL are the supporters who bring talent, treasure and time.
“It’s not only financial support we get,” Natasha said.
“Someone would help with printing, dropping things off, lending containers. It’s always the last minute when you’re on your last legs wondering ‘OMG, how am I going to get that sculpture down onto the beach,’ and someone will rock up with a crane or truck…”
Natasha says the team have learnt much over the years and that taking care of the smallest detail can save an enormous amount of time, money and energy.
“We have to be organised and we need to remain flexible in our approach to how our logistics are managed, heavy machinery, safety on site and patience all form part of the brief.”
“We learned to never have all of our eggs in one basket, to maintain a good balance wherever we could: sponsorships, grants, in-kind, philanthropic and local support.”
“And we’ve learned to remain optimistic. That what we’re doing and what SWELL stands for is good for the city, is good for the community, is good for its education programs. And it’s especially good for the artists.”
At this year’s event SWELL exhibited works from 55 artists. 30 of those were from Queensland and 17 were from the Gold Coast. And SWELL’s reach is much broader than just the Gold Coast.
“I’ve worked with Brisbane Airport Corporation to curate an exhibition, we install sculpture at Woodford, we have input into public art policy,” Natasha said.
“I’ve also been honoured with a Power Up Your Arts mentorship with the Urban Arts Project.”
So what does the future hold for SWELL?
“It is what it is. It’ll manifest and grow and change in all different ways and that will be determined by who nurtures it and loves it and feeds it and how much support the artists get,” Natasha said.
“I feel really good about where SWELL is right now. I feel really good about what it represents to the artists and the community and how well it has been nurtured by so many different people in so many different ways and I can’t thank those people enough.”
“Swell is a teenager now. It’s just growing up. 13 years has seen a lot of change. “
So in 13 year’s time. It’s ten years after the Commonwealth Games and SWELL is celebrating its 26th anniversary. What will Natasha Edwards be thinking and feeling then? Will it still be a case of standing on the beach wondering if anyone will come?
“No,” she said. “I’m thinking… we did good.”
“We followed our gut instincts, we followed our passions and look how much it’s grown. Look how strong this community is.”
SWELL Sculpture Festival 2016 will take place on Currumbin Beach and foreshore from 9 – 18 September 2016. Visit swellsculpture.com.au for more information.
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