Retired aircraft engineer takes off in sculpture

1.00pm - By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Ohakune's Murray Swan has harnessed his deep understanding of metal and adhesives from a first career as a jet aircraft engineer to make mixed-media sculptures that reflect the landscape of the central plateau and coastal New Zealand.

Recently retired from Air New Zealand, 61-year-old Swan is pursuing the career he always wanted - making art from metal.

At Air New Zealand he did everything from maintaining the flying boat fleet to working on remodelling cabins on the early jets, to looking after the latest planes.

Now he works in aircraft-quality titanium, wire, glass, copper, stainless steel and other reflective surfaces to create wall sculptures and other objects.

And it's that combination of artistry, aircraft engineering and love of metal work that have helped him to secure a significant sculptural commission, the construction of a visual arts piece that is both art and music for Colorado's Pinnacles Charter School.

Swan will create a sculpture that can be played by up to 10 children and be a focal piece in the school's music suite. It will sit between racks of instruments and a high-tech studio and lab complex where pupils make and record all sorts of sounds and devices.

When finished it will be over 6m long, 1.2m deep and over 2.2m high, offering students everything from bells and metal reeds to gongs and cymbals. It is being constructed with copper, titanium, stainless steel, plywood and brass.

Swan says a major consideration was safety. "You can't have a kid poking out their eye while playing a sculpture."

Swan is a major fan of kinetic artist Len Lye. "Lye's sense of movement combined with visual elegance is outstanding."

Swan loves colour and movement in his work and for the moment he is using a lot of wire because it offers delicate strength.

Strength is going to be important for the Pinnacles Charter School sculpture, which Swan describes as a "musical waka".

The school's music director, Tommy Reddick, says he wanted a large sculpture that was also a musical instrument, and after researching metal artists on the internet, created a list of 10 from round the world. That list became three; Swan was up against two American artists.

"Because I wanted to create a visual arts piece that was both art and music, I needed a good, open mind and enough experience to handle a new challenge with thought and precision."