Mer Creature Sculpture Finds Loving Home [UPDATED 26/01/15]

It's Julie here, and quite frankly I have to say the new year has got off to a great start. I'm sure the accompanying photos with this blog post will give you some indication why I am smiling.

A few weeks ago my friend Nick Nicolaou from Makeup Effects Group emailed me to let him know one of his interns – Hannah Crosby – was looking for a home for a sculpture she had created. 

Turns out that Hannah had just finished a props course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). As part of her final year assignment, Hannah created a large statue of a mer creature. It had been standing in the NIDA foyer for some time but needed to move out to make way for new installations, and Hannah had no place to store it and would have been quite bereft if she had had to throw it out. Nick asked me if the statue could come home with me and I shouted a mighty "Yes!" without hesitation.

So a few days ago, my dad and I drove out to NIDA in a borrowed ute and met Hannah and her studio partner – Aussie comiker Matt Godden whom I have known for many years from a Sydney comics meet up (talk about another coincidence!). We spent some time chatting and easing the statue out of storage then loading it up and tying it off. Then home it came.

Just so you have a clearer vision of its dimensions and how it was constructed, it's made from polystyrene with a steel armature on the inside. The surface is coated with gyprock and finished to look like bronze. The statue is life-sized and about 1.8 metres tall and 1.5 metres square. It isn't that heavy but is attached to a wooden plinth painted black which is about 1 metre square.

Nick suggested that it would look great in the garden and he is right... However, I am hesitant in leaving it in the rain and we've had some heavy showers the last few days. Right now I am tossing up where to put it. The library would be perfect except for the fact it is occupied by cats at all times of the day and night, and I suspect they would use the sculpture as a climbing tree. I am also thinking about the outdoor patio area which is near a fountain. It is all undercover but we would really need to see how it fit in with the surroundings. It is temporarily being stored in one of our empty sheds so it is not exposed to the elements but we will figure it out soon.

I also have some plans to showcase it to an appreciative mer audience down the track. One way or another it is going to be given pride of place.  I am thrilled with it, I get great pleasure looking at it, and I am very appreciative that Hannah has entrusted it to me. Thanks, Hannah (which by the way is a name shared by the world famous Hannah Fraser AKA "Hannah Mermaid"!).

For more information about Hannah Crosby and her business check out her website Crosby Art.

Mermaid Statues from Around the World

Just found a couple of posts on two blogs that contain a whole bunch of photos of mermaid statues from around the world, starting with this one in Turkey. Turns out that the famous Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen isn't the only statue so check out the rest on Viola.bz and Kuriositas.com. 


(Please note that we don't know who the photographer is of this pic so we hope it's okay if we use it. Please alert us if it doesn't fall under a Creative Commons licence. )

Underwater Sculptures

Jason de Caires Taylor's underwater sculptures are hauntingly beautiful. They remind us of the Pompeii victims—frozen in time and space and emotion. Love the seahorse in the second video.
Want to see more? Then check out the Underwater Sculptures website. Thanks to our friend Nick for the heads up on these beautiful images. We just want to drink them up.

Leggo Mermaid

Spotted this Lego mermaid at Sydney Aquarium the other day. She also served as a stool for children to sit on or drape themselves over. Photo courtesy of Cat Kouns Born.

Copenhagen's Little Mermaid Out on Loan

Came across an online story the other day – Denmark's most iconic tourist attraction, the harbourside sculpture of The Little Mermaid sitting on a rock, will disappear for eight month on loan to Expo China in 2010. Sculpted by Edvard Eriksen and unveiled in 1913, it is said the model for the statue's face was prima ballerina Ellen Price and the model for the nude body was Eriksen's wife Eline. The sculpture has a tragic history of being beheaded, defaced, and mutilated by loonies on many occasions. Each time we've heard about another act of vandalism we've shuddered – she's not a political figure, she's a symbol of innocence and sacrifice from a beautiful Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. You can read all about her on Wikipedia, where we were happy to find out that the original has been kept out of circulation in some secret repository. Still ... we know the one in the harbour has been restored several times but it's quite sickening to know there are individuals and factions out there targeting her and undoubtedly planning their next attack.

Speaking of Hans Christian Andersen, we don't know whether you're aware of a movie about him starring the wonderful Danny Kaye, which I (Julie) used to watch as a kid and now own on DVD. It featured a wonderful ballet sequence at the end with ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire in The Little Mermaid role. I've tried to find an intact clip for you but was unsuccessful – the opening mermaid sequence has been cut. However, the dancing is still wonderful and I like the fact that the heroine in this case is a brunette while the interloper is a blonde. Here are a couple of other clips from the movie (non mermaid related) but which showcase Danny Kaye's warmth and talent.