Collage artist Angie Cass has spent around 450 hours taking hundreds of photos to create stop-motion animations depicting significant moments in Shellharbour history.
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The commissioned videos will be available on the city’s library and museum websites as part of celebrations for Shellharbour’s new Civic Centre which officially opens to the public in early 2018.
“The retelling of local stories are fundamental to preserving our history and nurturing a sense of place,” a council spokeswoman said.
The animations include that of the deadly shipwreck of a US tanker at Bass Point in 1943, the history of the Illawarra Central Co-operative Dairy and a joint project with local Aboriginal artists Lorraine Brown and Narelle Thomas were chosen by Council due to their “significance” to the community.
“It is well recognised that arts and creative activity contributes significantly to a city’s attractiveness as a place to live, work and visit,” the spokeswoman said.”
“From displays to performances and events to workshops, creative initiatives also have widespread community benefit on several levels including social connectedness, economic growth, self-expression and activation of public space.”
Stop-motion animations are created by the labour intensive process of making a scene via manipulating an object (in this case cut-out pictures on paper) and moving them at small increments between each photographed frame.
In addition, three teams of University of Wollongong design students worked with Tongarra Museum for the Sharing Stories project to develop short animations around heritage events and places including The Farm, Shellharbour Surf Club and local identity Ben Turner.
While several other forms of art have been commissioned at the Civic Centre reflecting the Aboriginal, pioneering and contemporary culture of Shellharbour.
The council spokeswoman said they were committed to delivering an array of creative initiatives including public art to be installed into the Shellharbour Skatepark redevelopment (which will begin late January).
“This is an exciting sculptural work designed by artist Graham Chalcroft with concepts derived from the young skate park user through a series of interactive workshops hosted by Council earlier this year,” she said.
Meanwhile, Angie Cass will be holding children’s animation classes at Thirroul Railway Hall on January 2, 9 and 16. For more information email angiecassart@gmail.com.