One way to support artists and the public is to give donations for public art. Most often governments provide funding for public art, but artists themselves are often the greatest gift givers (“giving artists”), because not only do they give creativity and inspiration, but many “gift” their work to local communities for the public to view – they are the artists’ gifts.
Glebe Park in Canberra is an example of art in the park, where giving to artists is giving to people. Three examples are Egle, the Queen of Serpents; the World Peace Flame Monument; and the statue of Mohandas Gandhi.
Egle, the Queen of Serpents, by artist Ieva Pocius, is an elegant bronze caped woman based on Lithuanian mythology. She was a bicentennial gift from the Lithuanian community to the park, unveiled by the Honourable Ros Kelly MP, on November 5, 1988. Egle marries a serpent prince who is subsequently killed by her outraged family. Stricken with grief, Egle undergoes metamorphosis, thus transforming into a tree. Adelaide sculptor, Ieva Pocius (1923-) depicts Egle soaring upwards with a soft roundness to the form. Pocius is renowned for her pieces in stone, wood, ceramic, steel, and bronze.
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The World Peace Flame Monument by local Ngunnawal elder Jim Williams is a sandstone erection etched on one side with the message: May all beings be at peace. In Sanskrit on another side are words offering respect to the son of Vasudeva. On another facet of the monument is a scattering of Bogong moths: large moths whose annual migration from Queensland to Victoria passes directly through Canberra. The moth, a source of food, is also an important part of male initiations and ceremonies for Ngunnawal men. The Ngunnawal people are the indigenous Australian inhabitants whose traditional lands encompass much of the city of Canberra and the surrounding Australian Capital Territory. Williams presented the monument as a gift to the people of Canberra from the Life Foundation on March 30, 2001.
The statue of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) by Ram V. Sutar is a bronze likeness of the apostle of non-violence (1869-1948). His Excellency the Right Reverend Dr. Peter Hollingworth, AC, OBE, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia unveiled the statue on August 15, 2002. Ram Sutar (1925-) studied in Bombay (Mumbai). His most famous piece is a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, which has been presented by the Government of India to countries such as France, Italy, Argentina, Barbados, Russia, England, Italy, and Argentina where they have been display on the occasion of the Gandhian Centenary Celebrations.
As you can see, “giving artists” gift their works to countries, governments, communities and individuals as a way of giving goodwill, a sign of tolerance and peace, and as a gesture to bring people closer together spiritually, philosophically or socially. In these examples, the giving artists expressed ideals of transformation, non-violence, and world peace.
