• Posted on 14 Jun 2022
  • 3-minute read

Think you need to visit a gallery to see great art? Think again. You can get your inspo and culture fix right here on campus. Here are five pieces on display this week to get you started.

Patterns in Nature 

You may have already encountered this series of light installations as you’ve walked through the UTS Central and Tower building foyers. 

Designed and built by 14 product design students, Patterns in Nature centres around the elements of fire, air, water and earth. Take a look behind the scenes below.  

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Descriptive transcript

Product Design students were tasked to work in teams, creating a sculpture relating to the classical four elements: fire, water, earth and air. The open brief began with research, creative design conceptualisation, prototyping, problem solving and digital CAD modelling. Students’ hands-on material use ranged from metal work, timber and plastic fabrication, as well as electronics and programming. Students were tutored by exhibiting artists of Vivid Sydney. The final works made their debut during Vivid Sydney 2022.

And if you’re feeling inspired to see more staff, student and alumni works on display during Vivid (including Tomorrow's Blossoming by the Air group's Gemma Ferguson), you have until Saturday 18 June to check them out. 

Growth forms 

New(ish) to the Tower foyer, this sculpture by Margel Hinder has a story to tell. 

Growth Forms was originally created for the Western Assurance Building in Sydney’s Pitt Street in 1959. But, it barely escaped in one piece in 1980 when the building was sold. After being saved twice from becoming scrap metal, the cactus-like structure found its new home at UTS in 1997 where it resided in the Tower before being moved to the Science building overlooking Alumni Green.  

In 2022, it was returned to the UTS Tower foyer – where you can see it now – as part of a large-scale preservation project. 

Two images of Margel Hinder's cactus-like sculpture, Growth Forms
Growth Forms by Margel Hinder is currently on display in the UTS Tower foyer. Photo: Rosalia Catalano.

Frankly my dear 

Feeling forlorn about the short winter days? We have something to cheer you up: Building 8’s windows illuminated in colour for Vivid Sydney.  

Seen from the Goods Line, Frank Gehry’s unmistakable ‘paper bag’ aesthetic suddenly looks as enticing as a bag of mixed lollies. 

Building 8 illuminated during Vivid 2022
Building 8 illuminated in colour during Vivid 2022. Photo: Rosalia Catalano.

On the Fringes 

Take a glimpse into the day-to-day life of local southwest Sydney communities in the 90’s and early 00’s through Therese Sweeney’s multimedia project. The exhibition, which is on display at the library until September, challenges stereotypes and is a celebration of the artist’s local Green Valley community.  

“My motivation was to challenge and redress the long history of negative press and social research depicting my community of origin as bleak and desperate,” Sweeney says. “I aimed to produce images that were born out of collaboration, research, respect and relationship with residents." 

Black and white photograph of A group of youth at a South American night, Whitlam Leisure Centre, Liverpool, 1994.
A group of youth at a South American night, Whitlam Leisure Centre, Liverpool, 1994, Therese Sweeney.

It’s a jungle in here 

As you look around for a spot to eat in the UTS Central food court, it’s likely you’ll find yourself beside something you didn’t expect: a striking hand-painted 175 square metre mural with a story as vibrant as the animals and buildings it depicts. 

Bird Life Jungle Disco intends to encourage socialisation in the food court space and tells a colourful story of birds and animals at play in a busy social world.   

The artists are from Studio A – an art studio that creates professional pathways for people with intellectual disabilities.  

Artist Meagan Pelham painting the Bird Life Jungle Disco mural

Feeling inspired to see more art on campus? Book a free tour of UTS Art Collection.  

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