Clear choice

Issue 19 | Autumn/Winter 2007

Report: Karen Petersen
Photography: Melissa Di Ciero

Deciding on an appropriate memorial to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Berwick campus was not an easy task.

The piece needed to celebrate the history of the site, embodying its indigenous heritage, its time as Casey Airfield and its status as the University's newest Australian campus.

The Berwick Campus 10th Anniversary Committee was stumped until a member attended an exhibition at Caulfield Campus Faculty of Art and Design in 2005 celebrating 25 years of glass creativity at Monash University.

"The Berwick Campus had so much glass in its construction that a glass panel was appropriate," committee head Paul Sugden said.

Kristin McFarlane,  a graduate of graphic design with a Masters of Fine Art in Glass from Monash was selected to complete the work. The artist has completed a wide range of prestigious commissions and is best known for her work designing the Australian of the Year Awards, and State Awards.

"As an artist and graduate of Monash University, I was honoured to be commissioned to create this artwork," she said.

The artist's great-grandparents owned the local dairy in Berwick for many years and she still has family living in the area. The artistic process began with extensive research.

"I worked closely with local historian Bill Hudson, who has an in-depth knowledge of the Berwick area," McFarlane said.

"Monash Berwick academics Associate Professor Lionel Frost and Paul Sugden played an integral part in collaborating with local groups to gather as many images and historical details as they could to assist me in creating this work."

Local groups such as the Berwick Mechanics Institute, Casey Cardinia Library Association, the Casey/Cardinia Branch of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and local journalist Jim Mynard took a keen interest in the artwork and assisted with the project.

McFarlane created the panels by using her own unique system of fusing glass and images. Initially the images are laid out using a computer graphic-design program. Next black, blue and clear glass with silver leaf and images in between are fused using a kiln. The final steps involve cutting down the panels and polishing the edges.

"I called the work Wings to Learning to pay tribute to the aviation history of the site and also to recognise the Berwick Campus as the place where students are given their wings before sailing off into their chosen careers," McFarlane said.