For the past four years, economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan has been working on a giant art project north of Wellington, which he says has cost "tens of millions" of dollars.
Now, the well-known businessman and former political figure is ready to unveil his new sculpture trail, which features a 25-tonne feather, a giant seat and a rainbow bridge, among others – to the public.
Morgan says public art brings joy to people of all ages. "It's incredible to see it. I just thought, 'wouldn't it be cool to generate something on a far grander scale down in Wellington'?"
Morgan bought the 200-hectare property north of Wellington in 2019.
"This is my retirement project," he says. "When Covid struck, there was no more motorcycling – I spent 20 years riding bikes around the world with my wife – so I followed her around the garden with a wheelbarrow for a couple of weeks, then she told me to get my own garden.
"So, two weeks later, I bought this... That was six years ago, and I'm still digging."
Morgan says he was never really interested in art until some sculptures he put up outside his Mount Maunganui home created a bit of happy chaos.
“All the tourists, instead of taking photos of the beach, they stand now, and they just take photos of the house with all the sculptures out, so it has become a major attraction.”
The sculptures at his Transmission Gully property are designed with Wellington’s notorious weather in mind, Morgan says.
“The site is sometimes beautiful, calm, like being in the tropics, and other times it is a howling gale and each time you get a different impact on your sculptures.”
Morpheus and Cumulus both move when strong Wellington winds rip through them.
Dawson, who created notable works such as The Chalice which sits in Cathedral Square in Christchurch, and the Ferns sculpture that normally hangs above Wellington’s Civic Square, also created Touchdown, which is shaped like the feather on the front gate.
Touchdown is a 25-tonne, 17-metre high sculpture that’s visible from the Transmission Gully motorway.
Dawson created it after noticing feathers being whisked around by the wind when on a site visit.
The colossal sculpture was brought in on a house-moving truck and then craned onto the top of the hill where it was laid down on 32 bolts perfectly.
“Isn’t that unreal when you think of the size of this? That the guys had got it right to the millimetre, 32 bolts, it is just unreal.”
The rest of the 5km trail included a 7.3-metre-high giant seat, which Morgan himself came up with the concept for, and a 100-year-old rail bridge from Trentham in Upper Hutt painted in rainbow colours.
He says the sculpture trail is a passion project.
“It just keeps me busy during my retirement otherwise I go sterile or do something even sillier and get back into politics or economics, and I don’t want to go backwards.”
The Morgans' sculpture trail currently features 10 sculptures, with five more to arrive. It will be open to private bookings.
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