Adelaide Street Bronze Pavement Inlays
In 1996 there appears to have been a lot of public artwork by artist Brona Keenan installed around Brisbane City. Not only did she do all the artwork on the bronze inlays which form the Albert Street Literary Trail, she also created a number of pieces located in Adelaide Street, between George and Albert Streets. These are all ostensibly themed around the Brisbane Bus network. The titles include: An Angel at my Bus Stop; Our Neighbour's Cat; Still Life with Reclining Bus Ticket; and When I was Six. Although I have been unable to find much about Brona, I do know that aside from public artwork she has also illustrated children's books. 
All of these pieces are bronze and brass inlays, with a variety of recollections of bus travel as a child. The wording on Our Neighbours Cat is "Our neighbour's cat often tried to catch the bus with her to work but he never had the right fare." Anyone who has travelled by bus can also sympathise with the phrase "When I was Six I accidently discovered that eating my bus ticket was a great way to start a conversation with the bus inspector." I tried that once when I was in my teens, but it didn't quite cut it so I was thrown off the bus!
These are more of the artistic gems dotted around Brisbane City. After being in place for over 10 years, they are still remarkably resilient. The inlays are doubled up, that is, you will find examples of the same piece on both sides of the street. That just means that you have double the opportunity to enjoy them! If you're a public transport user hopefully you get the chance to see them, remembering them when you are stuck in traffic.
Cheers, I Love Brisbane, Wes.
Click Here for the Google Map Reference for this post.
5 comments:
Those inlays are quite whimisical, aren't they?
I am Brona's nephew and I can tell you that she currently resides in Melbourne and works for the government in Arts and Cultural services. And yes, she has illustrated two childrens books. She mostly works on public artworks and does a lot of work with lino, my mum and dad have many of her original lino pices around the house.
Thanks for the update Joshua. Its always great to get contact from those that know some of the sculptors I've highlighted in this blog, and great to give them more recognition for their fantastic work!
Cheers, Wes.
HI Wes, I love Brisbane too - I came to live here about 4 years ago and have been writing about what I see and do - one of the things I was always curious about were the bronze plaques around the city but particularly an angel at my bus stop and you have answered the question for me. I don't know if you still blog as this entry is quite old but anyway thanks !
Marina Marangos
http://www.mezzemoments.blogspot.com
hi Guys was just wondering where my angel at the bus stop plaque has gone from Adelaide Street Brisbane
Post a Comment