Susanna Freymark
They came, they played, they clapped – Kyogle’s street piano was unveiled in Stratheden Street yesterday, Saturday, June 13.
More than 300 people gathered in the street to see and hear the street piano played for the first time.
The concept started with resident Lynda Clark who told councillor Olivia Taylor who took it to the monthly council meeting where councillors voted for a three month trial of a piano on Stratheden Street.
Yesterday, that piano was placed in position and unveiled. And what a sight it was.
The piano donated by Eric and Sonja Anderson was transformed with artwork by Sally Joyce. Her inspiration was Brindle Creek and the Border Ranges.
Sally told the crowd that it took about 130 hours to paint the piano. She said she had a lot of help – piano tuner Anna Woltmann and carpenter Vaughan Davies did their bit – Anna made the piano sound as good as it looked and Vaughan put a lock on the piano so it could be closed if there was an event on in the KMI Hall.
Young Amber Bowman was mentored by Sally during the process and she also played the piano at the unveiling. So did Aviv O’Callaghan, Hazel Nix, Layla O’Neill, Chris Wesley and Angus Joyce.
Sally said she collaborated with Auntie Kali McBride who is a Galibal elder of the Bundjalung Nation.
“The scene I have depicted on the piano runs downstream into Gradys Creek. I collaborated with Auntie Kali on the images inside the circles of the windows.
I wanted to be able to look deeply through these windows and I asked Aunty Kali to look through them for me, Sally said.
“I sent her images of my concept work and she dreamt on them. She then sent me her piano dreaming.”
A voice message from Auntie Kali was played at the unveiling today.
For Sally, plants and nature have always featured in her artworks.
“Plants have always been intertwined into my work and this work was no exception,” she said.
“I particularly love the Helmholtzia lily or stream lily that grows along the higher reaches of Brindle Creek. They are quite majestic and I see them as the upstream guardians of our rivers.”
The painting of the street piano was a family adventure.
Sally and her sons Angus and Toby went to Brindle Creek, a place Sally visited often in her childhood.
At the creek, Angus attached a bio-sonic reader to the leaves of the lily and the electrical pulses from the plant were converted through a synthesiser into haunting piano notes.
Angus then transposed the notes into a song. Sally used colours to represent the notes, and painted them on the lid of the piano.
Listen to the Helmholtzia Song on YouTube.
It was Toby who gave her the “fullstop” to her artwork, Sally said.
“My youngest son Toby loves photography and exploring. He curiously sought out some really lovely video footage of the Lamington spiny crayfish when we were at Brindle Creek.
“It’s the only animal on the piano. I had a lot of requests for a turkey.”
The project was managed by Kyogle Council’s Art and Cultural officer Kate McGain who is leaving Kyogle next week to go and live in Melbourne.
Sally spoke about how the painting of the piano was to deter vandalism and she urged everyone to “protect the piano”.
The playing of the piano continued after the official unveiling.
This was always a community project at its heart and yesterday proved the joy a beautiful piano can bring to the streets of Kyogle.