The driftwood art of Wayne Hill has fallen foul of authority, as you may have read, and requires consents before it can be erected out on the bed of the Jacob's River estuary at Riverton. Not such a hurdle, you might think, despite the substantial cost involved, but do-able were it not for the flint-eyed objectors, whose relentless complaining to the Southland Regional Council has pushed the projected costs for hearings and other bureaucratic business up toward the $5000 mark!
The Riverton Estuary Care Society Inc. had what it considered a great idea - why not offer to host Wayne's driftwood art on their privately owned wetland reserve at the edge of town? It has ponds, created for the whitebait from the estuary to mature in and those would suit Wayne's artistic purposes perfectly. His art is best seen reflected in water, and the ponds are full of that good stuff.
We chose a spot, Wayne dug-in his latest work, a small 'bird' set on a nest of 3 small stone 'eggs'. The Southland Times, always interested in Wayne's work and his battle with bureaucracy, came out to photograph the modest artwork and interview the artist and a representative from the Riverton Estuary Care Society (me).
All seemed to be well, until... the reporter, checking with the District Council before publishing the story, discovered that they were not happy! The structure, they said, requires a consent!
Here's the offending artwork, in situ. See what you think. While you're doing that, I'll be on the phone to the council :-)
2 comments:
What's the relevant bylaw Robert?
Another seabed and foreshore debacle? ;-)
Surely none of them are relevant wildcrafty - it's a single length of driftwood! There are hundreds of such logs on the reserve, all lying about with nary consent between them.
I'm expecting some common-sense from the council and tomorrow's newspaper article should help them choose the best path :-)
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