Helen Leete had ‘premonition’ iconic sculpture would be damaged
HELEN Leete had a premonition her iconic sculpture at Fairy Bower rock pool would cop a beating — so she started making a new one three months in advance.
Nth Beaches
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THE ARTIST who created Manly’s iconic sculpture which snapped in half in the storm, began making a new one three months ago after she had a “premonition”.
The ceramic sculpture depicting two joyful bathers was installed on the edge of the rock pool at Fairy Bower in 1997 and ever since has been a popular spot for people to have their photo taken.
Helen Leete, from St Ives, said the sculpture was well-loved and joked if she had a dollar for every photo that has been taken of it she would be very rich.
However, its popularity led her to worry something might happen to it.
“The last time I went to check I saw there was some rusting around where it’s fixed into the rock,” she said.
“I thought sooner or later the steel was going to fail.
“I’m not young, so if it was in 40 years’ time it could not be replaced.
“I thought I should make a cast in case anything happened to it. It was a bit like a premonition.”
Even though in this instance it was the sculpture that snapped, not the steel, she said it was only a matter of time before something happened.
Ms Leete has already re-created the sculpture in ceramic. But her aim is to make a bronze cast of it and fix it to the rock with a stronger type of steel, so it would “last thousands of years”.
However, the broken sculpture is the property of Northern Beaches Council which said it was yet to assess the sculpture to see if it could be repaired.
Michael Ledger, director of Manly Arts Gallery said the broken part was in the rock pool and when it was retrieved they would be able to assess whether it could be fixed.
He said until then the council would not be able to comment on whether a bronze cast of the sculpture could replace the original.
To make a bronze cast costs thousands of dollars and Ms Leete hasn’t worked out how to finance it.
But she said in her opinion if the original could be repaired it would only be a “stop gap”.
She was keen for the sculpture to remain safely in place for years to come, after she was inundated with messages from people locally and around the world after it was damaged in the storm.
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