Light It Up Blue

As part of Light It Up Blue, an Autism awareness initiative, Brisbane will light up the William Jolly Bridge every night in April with artwork from Tim Sharp who is a 23 year old artist with autism. This is only one of the landmarks in Brisbane taking part. Everything is blue this month: the Treasury Casino, Kurilpa Bridge, the Wheel of Brisbane, the Story Bridge and City Hall.

Some other Australian cities will be taking part. See who and how here.

Wattles

Another floral offering from Ian De Gruchy is being projected onto the William Jolly Bridge for the next few days. This one is called Wattles. As I learned when I became and Australian citizen last year, the wattle flower is Australia's national flower and is bright yellow just like it is here.

This is the last in the current series of projections and you can see it each night until Tuesday.  To see all the projections I have managed to catch, click on the "WJB Projections" label below.

Deck the bridge with blooms of Poin...er...

Doesn't our bridge look good at the moment?  This is Poinsettias by Ian De Gruchy and will be projected onto the bridge each night for about 5 hours from when it gets dark up until tuesday night. Poinsettias are Brisbane's floral emblem. At the risk of sounding like a smarty pants, I reckon that these flowers are actually from a Poinciana tree. What do you think?

 Either way, the floral tribute is very Christmassy as both red flowers are blooming in Brisbane right now. If you are celebrating, Happy Christmas to you!

Here Comes The Sun

It'll be our longest day soon and then the sun will head north so we can only sing that song for a couple more days.

Right now there is a projection on the William Jolly Bridge called "Summer Solstice" by artist Kate Shaw. See more of her stuff here.

(Little darling) It's been a long, dark year for this side of the bridge since the floods so it's really satisfying to see the little lighthouses back up and running again. This slide will be on view until tomorrow night. Then on Wednesday we've got two weeks of Ian de Gruchy - that's one week of Poinsettias and one week of Wattles. The projections start at dusk and go for about 5 hours.

I know those drawings!

A funny thing happened to me last night when I turned on the telly. An artist was being interviewed and he was talking all about these people that he drew - and how they all look like they're straight out of the 1970s and all the men have these giant beards

The drawings looked vaguely familiar to me and he said he was from Brisbane... then all of a sudden he started talking about how he was asked to project his drawings onto the Willian Jolly Bridge. It was a bit of a Eureka moment for me as I had been wondering who had drawn them and what they were about when I posted the projection a few weeks ago. The artist's name is Laith McGregor and you can see plenty more of his work by doing a Google Image search on his name. He works a lot with biro which I really like.

 He's also exhibiting at the Melbourne Art Fair between August 4-8 if you're in the area.

Or if you like here's a little video. (I'm not sure if that's available outside Australia - sorry if it's not)

Today's picture shows the same projection as my original post,  just a little wider.

There were faces on the bridge last night...

William Jolly Bridge, Last Night

The William Jolly Bridge (aka The Grey Street Bridge) has two permanent lighthouses, built at the end of last year, set up to project slides onto it.

I'm sure I've eaten off plates with this pattern on them. 

William Jolly Bridge Projection

Last night's projection. More information on this one soon, hopefully!
For others, click on the WJB Projections label below.

Edit (18.5.10) The artist who did this slide, and 3 others this month, is Guan Wei, born in China and now resident in Sydney. The Museum of Brisbane says :
   
 Guan Wei's work references cultural diversity, including Indigenous and colonial cultures. Through the recreation of oceans, islands and desert interiors, Guan Wei makes connections with subjects, such as navigation, exploration, searching for treasure, migration and the influence of and response to Globalisation.

If you like, you can visit his website here.

Whatever You're Doing, You're Doing The Right Thing.

The William Jolly Bridge was in a reassuring mood last night. Let's hope you weren't robbing a bank.

This projection is part of the National Youth Week commission for the bridge and is by Fiona Mail. The series runs until May 3rd.

Guessing Game (and the answer)

Maybe I'm just not digging hard enough but there doesn't seem to be any information on the changing projections by artist Ian de Gruchy on the William Jolly Bridge. This was last night's. I think it might be a drawing of City Hall.

Yes, a nice web-based database with information and pictures on all of the different pictures would be lovely. Perhaps I should write a letter.
                                         
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AMENDMENT: Isn't it great? Ask and you shall receive. I emailed Ian de Gruchy who has kindly told me that this artwork is by Hanna Groff and it is to celebrate Youth Week. So there you go. For some other projections onto the bridge, click on the "WJB Projections" label below.

Stars and Stripes

Alright you can't see too many stars in this shot - they were there, I promise you!... will the star-bursts around the street lights do?

William Jolly Bridge dressed in its stripey blazer.

William Jolly Projections (2)

There are a range of different patterns set up to project onto the William Jolly Bridge. This one is some sort of crest but I can't make it out... any ideas?
Here's another...

William Jolly Bridge Projections

The William Jolly Bridge is settling into its funky new look nicely. As part of Queensland's 150th celebrations, Brisbane city council has commissioned this permanent light installation with a variety of patterns by Ian de Gruchy, a projection artist who has projected on other public buildings like these ones.