Flights of fantasy as SALA Festival begins in venues and online
This fearsome flying fantasy creature represents its creator’s triumph over his own challenges – and the many spectacles of the month-long living artists festival.
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Like the giant metal dragon whose wingspan fills the Barossa Regional Gallery, the SALA Festival is poised to take flight from Saturday with exhibitions across the state – and online.
Sedan artist Liam Davies-Brown sculpted the four metre tall dragon over 18 months.
“It took about 250 hours. I knew how big it would be, so it had to be in pieces for transport … you have to use a small engine crane or hydraulic crane to put it together.”
Mr Davies-Brown, 18, did a beginner’s blacksmith course at Penfield three years ago, then undertook workshop safety training with master metal art fabricator Tony Howard in Angaston.
“He gave me a bucket of old four-stroke motorcycle parts. I took me about a week just to finish this tiny little, tabletop size dragon.”
Mr Howard then gave him some larger scrap parts, which Mr Davies-Brown saw would fit together like “a giant jigsaw puzzle”.
“What I had in mind was making some dragon leg bar stools. I was just about to ask Tony how to fix a wooden seat to the top of them,” he said.
Instead, Mr Howard suggested he use three large truck rims. “I put one of the truck rims on top of the two legs … it just fit. Then, I thought: Bar stool, nope. I need to make a big dragon.”
The dragon came to symbolise some mental health issues Mr Davies-Brown was dealing with at the time.
“Dragons are top of the food chain in mythology. Nothing is going to stop them,” he said.
Mr Davies-Brown also has autism and said his artwork – which he intends to pursue as a career – has helped him connect with other people.
“Autism doesn’t define Liam,” his mother Catherine Davies said. “Liam is defined by art.”
SALA Festival chief executive Kate Moskwa said more than 5500 artists will take part in 500 exhibitions at venues and online, while new events can continue to be registered until the final day on August 31.
“We see exhibitions which examine topics such as isolation, bushfires, domestic interiors, returning to nature, and the ongoing effects of a global pandemic,” Ms Moskwa said.
“We also see artists in the program using escapism to create worlds beyond our current reality.”
Full program and app at salafestival.com