Art in public places

City of Marion believes that public space and places are enhanced significantly by artistic expression. Public art helps to create an environment that reflects pride, activates and creates a sense of place and generates a sense of ownership of public spaces.

Public art is a way of interpreting local issues, celebrating local stories and traditions, expressing community aspirations and exploring new ideas. Art in public places can be chanced upon by accident; it is free and it enriches our everyday experience.

The City of Marion Public Art Guidelines 2020-2028 provide a comprehensive guide to the commissioning and management of public art across the council area.

If you are interested in working with Council or to view Commissioning and artist opportunities please visit our Artist opportunities page.

City of Marion recognises that public art works can help to create a more attractive urban environment which reflects local character, community pride, ownership, sense of place and community identity. It can be in the form of a sculpture, digital, music, performance arts, commemorative, integrated and installation as well as programmed artistic artworks in the public realm.

Check out our story map, an interactive map which showcases some of the wonderful public artworks across the City of Marion.

The City of Marion recognises that public artworks can help to create a more attractive urban environment which reflects local character, community pride, ownership, sense of place and community identity. It can be in the form of a sculpture, visual arts, digital, music, performance arts, installation and urban activation as well as programmed artistic artworks in the public realm.

The community is invited to share feedback on public art, art on stobie poles and provide other suggestions you may have to make our City more liveable, engaging, prosperous and sustainable via the survey link here. These surveys are always open for feedback.

Council encourages and supports community members to design and install artwork on Stobie Poles adjacent to their property. Before you start, however, there are a few things you need to know:

• Stobie poles are owned by SA Power Networks
• Prior written approval is required from SA Power Networks regarding the location and regulations governing Stobie Pole Art
• SA Power Networks require written approval from Council regarding artwork design/installation

Application & Approval Process

Firstly follow the ‘Council Design Submission’ process outlined below, Once you receive Council’s artwork design approval, forward this to SA Power Networks (see contact details below) for their approval to include your artwork on the nominated pole(s).

Created by Nicky Create and Adam ‘Tarns’ Poole-Mottishaw in December 2022. A City of Marion project in partnership with The Returned & Services League of Australia and Bone Timber.

The Messines mural acknowledges the Battle of Messines and the heritage of the site. Messines Avenue is lined with significant World War 1 Memorial of Honour English Elm trees planted in 1917. The road was used by the community to acknowledge service at both world wars and held events such as street dances, fairs and ANZAC marches. As such the road was listed within the Local Heritage Places register on 12 March 2015 – Site No. 26053.

The mural includes:

• Soldiers and a nurse (Sister Jane Sweeney a WW1 nurse who lived locally);
• Poppies and wattles;
• Returned Sailors & Soldiers Imperial League badge;
• Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge;
• 1914 – 1918 WW1 Service Medal Trio;
• War scene images, the scars war leave on the landscape, colour patches of infantry battalions.

Mural located on Messines Avenue, Edwardstown.

Created by Elle Dawson-Scott in 2022, this artwork is a celebration of the first Australian suburb to have blended gas. The artwork is a bright and bold pathway that seeks to bring smiles to faces, as well as inspiring us all towards a clean and green future together. The artwork touches on the themes of nature and sustainability, renewable energy, “green and clean”, environment issues, gas, hydrogen, cooking, heating and community through stylised and bold images.

The artwork is a call to action to explore, seek and play.

Located at Quick Road Reserve.

The Edwardstown Industrial Art Trail invites you to visit various murals and stobie pole art across the suburb of Edwardstown. Please see the ‘Edwardstown Industrial Art Trail Map’ and information below.

Created by Sair Bean in 2022 this mural is akin to tearing open a bag of mixed lollies to a group of ravenous toddlers.

Sair Bean’s design fully transforms the Castle Plaza wall using bright, bold squiggles and colours.

In a contemporary and illustrative style, the design will appear as a map ‘puzzled’ together with strong block colours and organic shapes. Unusual textures, unexpected new forms, sprouting elements and spontaneous shapes form bulbous extremities and augment the feeling of growth, referencing the innate potentiality of Edwardstown. In an abstracted collaged fashion, the design includes a nod to the past retail industry and a celebration of its growth to this present day.

This fantastical artwork will help Edwardstown discover colour, vibrancy and inspire the community to seek magic, richness, and playfulness.

Located at Castle Plaza - Raglan Avenue, Edwardstown.

Created by Senman Creations in 2021, this artwork recognises the automotive and manufacturing industries of the local area.

Located at 31-35 Conmurra Avenue, Edwardstown.

Created by Senman Creations in 2021, this mural tells a story highlighting Edwardstown’s rich local history of vineyards, farmlands, the railway station and construction of local businesses and buildings including The Maid of Auckland, Acklands Chaff Mills and South Australian Rubber Mills.

Located at the corner of Raglan Avenue and Wilfrid Street, Edwardstown.

Created by project2project in 2022 Congregate: a three-part major permanent public artwork celebrates communities and is fully integrated with the architectural design. The concept was inspired by the artists' initial site analysis and research, groupings and patterns made by gatherings of people. This artwork was successful in receiving the Arts South Australia Public Art and Design Major Commission Funding in 2020.

Created in 2022 by Ann-Marie Green in collaboration with Council, this display acknowledges the industries, stories and history of the area including the Sturt River, glasshouses, manufacturing, housing, sporting, and community.

Created by Donna Gordge and the community in 2022, this textile piece incorporates cyanotype printing, block printing, coil basketry, screen printing, polychromatic printing, shibori dyeing, fabric manipulation and sashiko stitching in a community storytelling textile artwork acknowledging the environment, industry, employment and community of Mitchell Park.

Created by Pete Court and the community in 2022. Stories told or created from interviews and exploration, of the community and their connection to the area.

This 62 page publication can be viewed at the sports and community centre or borrowed at City of Marion libraries.

Explore Warripari Sturt River Trail

View the artworks and tree tags along Sturt River by doing a self-guided walk.

Download the map below:

Birds of the Flood Plain, 13 Finniss Street, Marion

Inspired by the stories of Sturt River – Ink and Ruby Studios’ Birds of the Flood Plain mural features a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, Royal Spoonbill, Barn Owl and a Kookaburra nestled proudly amongst native plants – the Correa, Knobby Club Rush, Eutaxia Diffusa, Golden Wattle and Eucalyptus leaves. The mural aims to reconnect people walking, cycling or driving past the Finniss Street wall and Linear Path with nature, showcasing the beautiful birds and plant life that are native to the area and highlight the importance of the natural environment of the Sturt River area.

Life from above and below, Marion Leisure and Fitness Centre, Morphettville

Created by Senman Creations, this mural highlights the rich and diverse wildlife, biodiversity and stunning surroundings of the Warri Parri (‘windy place by the river, Kaurna name for Sturt River). The viewer is drawn into the painting, offering a glimpse of flora and fauna life from above and below the surface. Can you spot the Glossy Ibis, turtle, yabbie, red gum, kangaroo and Purple Spotted Gudegon? What other plants, birds and fish can you find?

Tools For Future Use, Everest Avenue Reserve, Morphettville

Influenced by the importance of water capture, use and conservation, this artwork, by Matt Fortrose, reflects on the arguable practice of water divining. Tools For Future Use compares the unconscious motion of finding water, to the conscious action of conserving it. This artwork hopes to spark discussion amongst its viewers alternative ideas in search of water, thoughts on conservation, sustainability and an appreciation of our local ecosystems.

The Big Thaw, Appleby Road Reserve, Morphettville

The two half-court ground murals by Matt Fortrose offers a unique variation of a standard bar graph, sitting between a mural, a data source and a functional play space. Looking to the importance of maintaining our waterways and caring for our environment, Matt researched coastal flooding, erosion and saltwater intrusion into freshwater wetlands and its relationship to sea level rises and increased land temperatures.

The basketball court mural represents a vast glacier, using various blue tones to reference a melting ice source.

The netball court mural represents a sun, using various orange tones to reference a hotter climate.

Plastron, Maldon Avenue Reserve, Mitchell Park

The turtle sculpture created by James Stewart, is a fun and playful artwork that stands 1.5 metres high, intended to symbolise a delicately balanced ecosystem. The shell and base are made from Corten steel referencing technology, and the ‘flesh’ is formed in a more organic appearance using found items crafted by human tools representing our role in helping to cultivate and care for the environment and nature, encouraging the return and sustainability of amazing creatures such as turtles to their natural habitat.

The public artwork screen created by South Australian artist Michael Kutschbach in 2020 titled e.v.a., at Morphettville Sports & Community Club, represents a sense of place. Inspired by recollections of childhood memories, Michael holidayed at his aunt Eva's home in Morphettville and lived with her family during the long summer holidays. Eva was a local primary school teacher and engaged member of the community in the late 1950's to early 1960's. The artwork proposes to introduce a new sensory experience to the area - experiences gained through connections to the site, a place of gathering for sport, recreation and social events, or simply driving past and providing a reference point on a journey. The visuals and tactility of the artwork from the materials, colours, patterns, compositions and textures, invites the viewer to come up close, engage, explore the work and create their own memories.

Created by artists Dave Court and Matt Fortrose in 2019, Woodlands Tower artwork references key elements of the local area helping to shape its identity including:

• the castle motif of Woodlands Park, in relation to Castle Hotel and Scottish sculptor William Maxwell (who famously installed battlements onto the original house turned hotel, to make it into some resemblance of a Scottish castle to remind him of home, 1891). The hotel has long since been demolished and in its place stands Castle Plaza;
• and the tree trunk seats, giving relation to the dense forestry that the area once was.

Located at Woodlands Park Railway Station, Railway Terrace, Edwardstown

An oversized spade stands in the ground, momentarily balancing. This artwork aptly named Dig and Delve, is by artist team Laura Wills and Will Cheesman. Created in 2018, this artwork is located in the Hendrie Street Reserve Inclusive Play Space, Park Holme. The artwork represents local agriculture, river life and village settlement. The blade becomes a canvas for images both tactile and visual (why not bring some paper and crayons and take rubbings of the little creatures), small gongs as keys for playing tunes, and atop the worn wooden handle sprouts a tree twisting up to the sky with birds perching.

Find and Leap mural at Morphettville Park Sports and Community Club is a contemporary artwork focussed on cricket and football that incorporates history and imagery around these sports played by women, men and children. Hidden amongst the foliage and throughout the mural are little creatures and other things to explore and find. Can you see the Ringtail Possums?
Creators of the work are artists Rosina Possingham and Laura Wills, 2018

The Coast to Vines Rail Trail between Hallett Cove Railway Station and Capella Drive, Hallett Cove hosts a glow-in-the-dark path with native flora and fauna. The design created by artist Aurelia Carbone, 2018 include muntries (native cranberries), blue tongue lizards, squid (Southern Calamari) and the trail logo. This work can be seen during the day, but beams at the darkest hours.

Local artist Aurelia Carbone, has created a distinct glow-in-the-dark artwork embedded in the amphitheatre at Grand Central Avenue, Hallett Cove, in 2017 as part of the Hallett Cove Foreshore Redevelopment. Entitled 'Wirltu', the artwork refers to Kaurna name for the claw of the celestial eagle who, at death, carries your spirit through the Milky Way, also known as the Southern Cross Constellation. Within the artwork, the stars constructed with glow-in-the-dark aggregate, were embedded onto different surfaces to create the illusion known as anamorphosis (a distorted projection that resolves itself when viewed from a particular point or through a camera). The artwork is visible both day and at night.

The Glade Crescent Wetland entrance statement created by artists Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa, CHEB art in 2017 is located at the public footpath leading from the Coast to Vines Rail Trail down to the first stage of the wetland within the reserve wetland development. Local rock excavated from the site has been salvaged and used by the artists for this project. The Kaurna title of the artwork "Tukutharnanta Tarnanta Pangka Yarlu" are the Kaurna words for a puddle, a pond, a lake, an ocean.

Marion City Band mural located on the corner of Dumbarton Avenue and Towers Terrace, Edwardstown was created by Jake Holmes. The mural was funded by the City of Marion Community Grants program.

Mural created by James Hopgood and Matt Dopheide, was commissioned by Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, 2018.

Created by artist Paul Herzich, this artwork is located at Marion Railway Station, Farne Terrace. Commissioned by Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure.

Two public artworks created by well-known Australian artist Johhnie Dady feature at Charles Street and Railway Terrace, Ascot Park, 2017.

Dady intends the artwork to enhance the existing linear qualities of both sites rather than disguise them. He says, "The railway is a complex technical and mechanical marvel that is a strong statement of connectivity, and by drawing attention to the vitality of the links, the dynamic movement of departure and arrival, embeds an even stronger sense of place. The drawing elements play on and emphasise the arterial contemporary rail system."

The pavers in Jervois Street Reserve, were created by Violet Cooper in 2016. Jervois Street Reserve in South Plympton is a popular family friendly reserve.

The entry fences also located at Jervois Street Reserve, South Plympton was created by artist team Deb Jones and Christine Cholewa, of CHEB Art, 2016. The artists drew inspiration for the four art fences from a leaf, almond blossom branch and the evolution of the caterpillar into a butterfly.

The Edwardstown Snake, Edwardstown Oval Soldiers Memorial Ground was developed in collaboration with artist Lawrence Wilkes to emphasise the overall play space theme of Snakes and Ladders.

Visual artist Cathy Brooks and poet Mike Ladd are the creative team behind a public artwork installed at Tram Stop 6, on the corner of South Road and Glengyle Terrace, Glandore

“Hallett Cove - One Million Years” at the Cove Civic Centre, Hallett Cove is an audio-visual artwork focusing attention on the action of natural forces on the environment of Hallett Cove over immense time periods.

Several artworks have been installed along the Mike Turtur Bikeway, which runs along the tramline through the City of Marion from South Road (at Tramstop 6) to Buttrose Street, Glengowrie.

A series of two and three-dimensional 'Link People' and 'Interpretive Badges' were created by Greg Healey and Gregg Mitchell, Groundplay, in 2012. Travel the pathway and be met by action-inspired sculptural figures and poetic text, reflecting on the life-enhancing experience of cycling.These artworks are between Marion Road and Morphett Road.

Further along the Mike Turtur Bikeway, artworks have been created by Christine Cholewa and Deb Jones of CHEB Art and Design. The works consist of bold yellow and black fence panels of a discombobulated bike, spinning and falling into parts. The spinning elements turn into a weathervane for riders to know the wind direction on their ride.

Harbrow Grove Reserve, Seacombe Gardens was developed as an innovative setting for stormwater collection, cleansing, storage and reuse. Recreational opportunities, and interpretive artwork are integrated into this setting, creating a landscape of innovative public open space.

Artwork incorporated into the fabric of the site was created by Gerry Wedd. Explore and discover the mosaic spheres and Pudna stones throughout the space.

Discover community and street art including our gateway to Marion Historic Village and the other Little Marion sculptures.

The sculptures were created by Gerry McMahon and are based on local resident Margaret Western’s recollections and stories of growing up in the village.

The Little Marion sculptures have been adopted by a local family in the village who regularly place ribbons in her hair. Take a stroll around the village and see if you can find them all. They include Little Marion Welcoming, Little Marion Skipping, Little Marion Pondering, Little Marion Waiting and Little Marion Peering.

In addition to the Little Marion series, working with project artists Irene Dougan and Cheryl Dean, from Beachroad Artworks Inc, the community created a ceramic tile 'Hopscotch' artwork for George Street Reserve, four tiled benches for Light Square and tiled plaques around the Marion Historic Village Heritage Walk.

A major public artwork commissioned by City of Marion can be seen at Marino Esplanade. Titled Contemplation, it was created by artist and former Marion resident Marijana Tadic, and launched in 2006. The artwork takes the form of a 'rocked boat' and marks the northern gateway to the Marion Coast Park. Inspired by local geology, culture and natural environment, it provides a place for people to visit, explore, reflect or sit and watch the sun go down. The design shows the 'fossilised' hull of a 10m long boat, a 7m high mast and deck. The mast features celestial patterns in reference to the way that nations navigate the globe, and represents the meeting of cultures

The Marino Rocks (end of Jervois Terrace) exeloo is wrapped with a geometrical mosaic by Michael Tye. The work takes the theme 'Celebrating the Coast', created by triangles on a unifying grid which reflect the cycle of life and the nature of the edges; the coast being the edge between land and water. The retaining wall in front of the exeloo features a colourful community mosaic by local residents, facilitated by Michael Tye.

33 large 'art signs' in the shape of dolphins, fish, crabs and traditional Kaurna shields can be found along the Marion Coastal Walking Trail.

Community artist, Barbary O'Brien worked with local schools, resident groups and members of the Kaurna Aboriginal community to develop the designs.

In pride of place in front of Marion Cultural Centre is an eye-catching work called From the 'Horizon - To the Horizon.'

Designed by internationally acclaimed local sculptor Greg Johns, the work is popularly known as the I-con sculpture. It represents the 'I' in the word MARION, the letters of which are woven through structure of the post-modern building. The 8 metre high dual steel column which relates to both the Australian landscape and the immediate surrounding environment.

The Marion Cultural Centre is built on a slight hill where the old Warracowie homestead used to stand. The Warracowie Wells artwork can be found in the paved plaza area. Artist Martin Corbin (deceased) used salvaged materials from the old homestead to acknowledge the Kaurna and European histories of the site.

At the entrance to Warriparinga and the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre is the impressive Tjirbruki Narna arra Tjirbruki Gateway. It was created in 1995-97 by Margaret Worth, Sherry Rankine, a Kaurna artist and Gavin Malone.

It is a multi-layered artwork about the Kaurna Ancestral Being Tjirbruki, the changes brought about by colonisation, and conciliation - between people, their cultures and the land. It is presented through a collection of symbols that signify place and events.

The gleaming steel structure on the corner of Marion and Sturt Roads, Bedford Park is the Warriparinga Wetlands Water Sculpture.

It features laser-cut images of wetland insects and invertebrates, and provides a distinctive 'sign post' for Marion's Warriparinga Wetland. Designed by Andrew Stock and John Wood, in 2002. The work highlights the value and beauty of indigenous insects, and the life-generating significance of water in the Australian landscape.

Perry Barr Farm contains artwork created by artists and community members including:

• an Equal Access Playway (1997) led by Artist, Margaret Worth;

• mosaics led by artists Cheryl Dean and Irene Dougan of Beach Road Artworks;2006/2007

• metal sculptures led by Gerry McMahon and community members;2006/2007

• murals led by Stuart Burns, Sam Evans and Morris Green 2006/2007
  

Launched in 1994, the glass gates at the corner of Sturt Road and McInerney Avenue, Mitchell Park were created by Terry Beaston. The gates are a combination of mosaic sculpture and stained glass. One gate focussed on the area's Aboriginal heritage, with its design inspired by the Kaurna people's name for Sturt Creek, Warripari River, meaning gully winds river. The other tells the story of the early European settlers and the grape vines they planted.

There are other examples of Art in Public Places located around the city, created for or with the community. Keep an eye out for these expressions and artistic activations as you explore our city.

City of Marion
Public Art and Placemaking Team
Phone: (08) 8375 6600
Email: publicartandplacemaking@marion.sa.gov.au