26 February 2021

TORUS Public Artwork Launch- the Donut

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On Thursday 25th of February Arts students from Years 8, 9 and 12 celebrated the official launch of the public artwork ‘Torus’ in Jubilee Park on Swanport Road. Students from Murray Bridge High School were very involved in 2020 with all stages of creating this artwork, from coming up with the central concept (a Donut) and creating hundreds of glazed terracotta tiles, to working to install the installation in the grounds of Jubilee Park.

Students worked to create this artwork with lead artist Christine Cholewa, who came into our school and worked directly with students to produce the final work. We were supported by Fulvia Mantelli from the Murray Bridge Regional Gallery and Trish Hansen who helped us with Project Management.

The Launch was opened by Mayor Brenton Lewis and Acting CEO of Murray Bridge Regional City Heather Barclay, with speeches from Ms Mussger, and senior art students Alexus Martin and Dalziel Callaghan. A big thankyou to everyone who helped develop this artwork and who celebrated the launch with us.

Student speech, delivered by Alexus Martin and Dalziel Callaghan:

We wanted the artwork to be fun for people visiting the park, to be functional while also celebrating all the different aspects of our community.

We designed the work from the idea of a donut because donuts are fun, colourful and delicious. Almost every culture in the wold has some sort of donut, ad so many cultures are part of our Murray Bridge community.

The rounded shape is known as a ‘torus’, which has roots in geometry, architecture, anatomy and botany.

One reason this shape has been chosen is as a symbol of inclusivity and wholeness. The shape is without corners and without hierarchy. Through this choice we wanted to promote equality and create a meeting place. A safe space where people can spend time together.

The idea of the donut also references this region as a food bowl, and pays homage to iconic small-town bakeries, as well as the many different cultures that bring their own version of the donut to Australia.

The materials we used are significant!

The stones in the Gabion walls formed part of the original Bridgeport Hotel built in 1884.

Students worked with Christine and Trish to make and glaze every tile you see in the middle of the Torus. We used these tiles to express ourselves, to show what we love, celebrate our beautiful environment, teach people about our languages and cultures.

The process involved lots of stages, from brainstorming ideas and making mock ups to glazing tiles and building gabion stone walls.

We hope you all like this artwork that we made with Christine, we hope people use this space to rest, to chat with friends, to ride their bikes through and to learn about us and everything we have shared in our individual tiles.

We would like to thank Christine Cholewa, Trish Hansen and Fulvia Mantelli for bringing this project to use and collaborating with us to make this artwork.

We would like to thank the Regional City of Murray Bridge and our Art teachers for helping us work through this project and make this art project together. Lastly we would like to thank everyone who came today to celebrate this artwork and our achievement today.