Author: Natalija Apponyi

The final Adelaide Hills International Sculpture Symposium gets underway on Tuesday April 5th at The Cedars, Heysen Road, Hahndorf and continues till the 25th (closed Mondays).  Gold Coin Entry from 10am – 4pm.  Participating artists will be Yoshin Ogata from Japan (for the second time) whose work will be placed in Bridgewater, Marijan Bekic Australia – Nairne, Renata Verbrugge NZ – Mt Barker, Francesco Panceri Italy – Woodside, Gheorghi Filin Bulgaria – Milang, Anna Korver NZ – Stirling, Liu Yang China – Mt Barker, Simon Thomas England – Strathalbyn, Soedong Choe Korea – The Cedars and Karin van Ommeren Netherlands – near Mt Barker summit.

Silvio will again be Artist Director of this event and 10 sculptures will be added to the Adelaide Hills Sculpture Trail by the end of the year, making a total of 26 works.  He greatly appreciates the hard work of the AHISS Board which has supported him for the past 8 years as they turn his vision into reality and he acknowledges the extremely generous support of local communities and councils who also embraced the concept of “sculpture in the hills”.  Do plan a few days exploring the Sculpture Trail in the Hills and the Fleurieu; maps available at The Cedars and the tourist office in the Hahndorf Academy.

This is what Silvio likes doing when he has a day off.

On Friday 30th October in Robe Silvio & Natalija co-judged the 2015 Southern Ocean Art Prize alongside painter & educator Margo Miles and photographer Anthony McKee.  There were generous prizes awarded in the categories of 2D, 3D and Creative Photography plus prizes for a resident of the Limestone Coast and for a work depicting the area around Robe.  There were also prizes awarded for school-children’s work.  Hadley Johnson of Electric Squirrel and colleague Tom Davidson did a sterling job of organising the whole event.

Silvio delivered work to “Wilson’s At Robe” in Victoria Street for the opening on Sunday the 1st November of their “Summer Sensations” exhibition which also features work by Terry Johnson, Leon Pericles, Gail Kellett, Janet Ayliffe, Glen Ash, Jojo Spook and many others.  This exhibition will continue for the summer season.

Thanks to Jude & Tim who provided Silvio & Nat with wonderful accommodation in the Robe Art Apartments.  They can highly recommend the coffee and “smashed avocado” breakfast at the Union Café in Victoria Street.

Silvio will be appearing at the Wyaralong Dam Sculpture Symposium in Queensland, near Beaudesert, from the 26th September to the 11th October.  Watch out for something BIG!

Silvio’s granite Whales are now installed in the brand-new gardens at Ngeringa Cultural Centre near Mt Barker Summit, opened on Saturday 29th August…an amazing gift to music and the arts by Ulrike Klein, founder of Jurlique.

In Okayama Silvio visited his sensei Shigeomi “Baba” OGURA , one of Japan’s most esteemed wood-block print-makers, then visited his colleague sculptor Hwang Seung Woo’s studio in South Korea.

Silvio is Artistic Director of this stone-carving symposium which is taking place from the 11th -19th April at Crystal Lake, Devereux Street, Macclesfield.  Open to the public every day, 10am – 4pm; entry by gold coin.  Come and watch emerging artists in action, including Astra Parker, Quentin Gore, Ben Tolhurst from Tasmania, Evan Marker & Tim Spooner.  Also participating are Peter Syndicas, Sally Wickes, Shereen Rankine, Barry Lincoln, John Nelson, Ruth Gregor and Emad Al Mairy.  Kids’ activities and poetry competition on Sunday 19th.           http://crystallakepark.com.au/      and Facebook

Silvio’s successful solo exhibition took place at Art Images once again. A beautiful venue for sculpture and Siv Grava and Mark Judd showed on the walls.

Stop Press, October 2014:  The second symposium again won a Brand SA Award for the Arts and also a Silver Award in the SA Tourism Awards for Events and Festivals.

The second Adelaide Hills International Sculpture Symposium will again take place at The Cedars, Heysen Road,  Hahndorf, home of one of Australia’s most esteemed artists, Sir Hans Heysen.  The 7 guest sculptors are Sakari Peltola from Finland, Petre Petrov & Agnessa Petrova from Romania, Jhoni Gogaberishvili from Georgia, Xavier Gonzalez from Spain, resident in France, Jocelyn Pratt from New Zealand and Hew Chee Fong from Queensland.  A popular participant in 2012, Luke Zwolsman will again make an appearance, this time as site manager.  The opening hours will be 10.00am to 4.00pm, Tuesday to Sunday and entry will be by gold coin donation.  Food & drink available on-site.

The event runs concurrently with the Heysen Biennial Sculpture Exhibition and Silvio has entered his marble Pelican.  Come and watch the symposium sculptors at work then wander through the grounds of the Cedars to see the Biennial Sculptures.

The Adelaide Hills International Sculpture Symposium’s Sculpture Trail has won the Brand SA Regional (Hills & Coast) Award for the Arts.