I love solo road trips, because I can jump on the brakes whenever I see something of interest to photograph, assuming there’s not somebody right behind me of course. (Ask my hubby to pull over while he’s driving and by the time he’s sighed with exasperation, weighed up whether he can say no, and begrudgingly found a ‘suitable’ place to pull over, the photogenic scene is likely receded in the rearview mirror or is out of view back around the bend.)
So I was happy to be travelling solo on Tasmania’s Bruny Island earlier this year (between Sydney lockdowns), because I was pulling over regularly for colourful roadside fruit stalls, pretty painted street libraries and old fridges filled with edible goodies, like the best wood-fired sourdough I’ve ever eaten from The Bruny Baker.
The Bruny Island Baker puts his loaves in these old fridges.
" data-image-title="05 The Bruny Baker’s roadside stall. Photo © Briar Jensen" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/05-the-bruny-bakers-roadside-stall.-photo-c2a9-briar-jensen.jpg" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617900215","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.05","title":"","orientation":"1"}" width="300" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/05-the-bruny-bakers-roadside-stall.-photo-c2a9-briar-jensen.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/05-the-bruny-bakers-roadside-stall-photo-briar-jensen/" alt="Old fridges used for selling bread" height="225" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/05-the-bruny-bakers-roadside-stall.-photo-c2a9-briar-jensen.jpg?w=300 300w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/05-the-bruny-bakers-roadside-stall.-photo-c2a9-briar-jensen.jpg?w=600 600w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/05-the-bruny-bakers-roadside-stall.-photo-c2a9-briar-jensen.jpg?w=150 150w" class="size-medium wp-image-2017" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/05-the-bruny-bakers-roadside-stall.-photo-c2a9-briar-jensen.jpg?w=640" />The Bruny Island Baker puts his loaves in these old fridges.
But it was a particular piece of street art that really caught my attention. Perhaps roadside art is a better moniker, as this eye-catching sculptural installation spans the corner of a paddock at the junction of Main Road and Simpsons Bay Road.
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Bruny (Beyond) Blue Farmer by Grietje van Randen
" data-image-title="IMG_7424" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7424.jpg" data-image-description="" height="300" width="225" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7424.jpg?w=225" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/img_7424/" alt="Female farmer sculpture in blue dress" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7424.jpg?w=225 225w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7424.jpg?w=450 450w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7424.jpg?w=113 113w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617899240","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.025","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7424.jpg?w=640" /> - Bruny (Beyond) Blue Farmer by Grietje van Randen
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Bruny (Beyond) Blue Farmer
" data-image-title="IMG_7431" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7431.jpg" data-image-description="" height="300" width="225" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7431.jpg?w=225" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/img_7431/" alt="Sire sculpture of female farmer with blue hat" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7431.jpg?w=225 225w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7431.jpg?w=450 450w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7431.jpg?w=113 113w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617899427","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.025","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7431.jpg?w=640" /> - Bruny (Beyond) Blue Farmer
The Bruny (Beyond) Blue Farmer is a round-faced female farmer in a blue brimmed hat with matching pinafore and gumboots. Considering her face is made from fencing wire I love how it radiates cheeriness. I just makes me smile – broadly. I also adore the details, like the little bluebird on her shoulder, the pretty flowers at her feet and the cute canine sitting obediently.
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Farmer’s best friend
" data-image-title="img_7430-1" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7430-1.jpg" data-image-description="" height="300" width="225" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7430-1.jpg?w=225" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/img_7430-1/" alt="Dog sculpture" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7430-1.jpg?w=225 225w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7430-1.jpg?w=450 450w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7430-1.jpg?w=113 113w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617899366","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.033333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7430-1.jpg?w=640" /> - Farmer’s best friend
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Happy blue flowers
" data-image-title="img_7429-1" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7429-1.jpg" data-image-description="" height="300" width="225" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7429-1.jpg?w=225" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/img_7429-1/" alt="woven blue flowers" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7429-1.jpg?w=225 225w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7429-1.jpg?w=450 450w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7429-1.jpg?w=113 113w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617899340","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.033333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7429-1.jpg?w=640" /> - Happy blue flowers
It turns out this is more than just cheerful installation, as the accompanying sign noted. This was part of a project with Beyond Blue to raise awareness of mental health and remind people to look out for each other, hence why the famer is ‘looking out’.
The reason behind the blue farmers
" data-image-title="IMG_7426" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7426.jpg" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617899262","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"25","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" width="300" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7426.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/img_7426/" alt="Sign about (Beyond) Blue Farmers" height="225" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7426.jpg?w=300 300w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7426.jpg?w=600 600w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7426.jpg?w=150 150w" class="size-medium wp-image-1997" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7426.jpg?w=640" />The reason behind the blue farmers
Local artist Gretja Van Randen involved the whole community, consulting with students from Bruny Island District School on the design, sourcing discarded blue bailing twin from farmers and getting members of the Men’s Shed to weld the frame. Volunteers taught the students how to weave, knit and plait the clothing and community members helped with knitting and weaving whenever they called into the Community Centre. What a great way to bring people of all ages together in a fun way. Turns out this is the fourth Big Blue Farmer installation, with others dotted around Tasmania, all ‘looking out’.
Launch of he Bruny (Beyond) Blue Farmer
" data-image-title="IMG_7428" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7428.jpg" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617899298","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" width="300" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7428.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/img_7428/" alt="Beyond Blue Farmer launch on Bruny" height="225" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7428.jpg?w=300 300w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7428.jpg?w=600 600w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7428.jpg?w=150 150w" class="size-medium wp-image-1998" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7428.jpg?w=640" />Launch of he Bruny (Beyond) Blue Farmer
Later in the week I pull up at a sign saying Art Garden. Sprokkelwood is a sprawling garden of mature European trees, tranquil ponds and shady arbours, interspersed with sculptures in timber, wire and found materials. For $10 you can explore the garden or have a picnic in the grounds. Kids would adore rolling on the lawns or searching for the enormous fairy toadstools sprouting between birches, maples and willows.
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Pond at Sprokkelwood
" data-image-title="P1280445" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280445.jpg" data-image-description="" height="225" width="300" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280445.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/p1280445/" alt="Water garden at Sprokkelwood" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280445.jpg?w=300 300w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280445.jpg?w=600 600w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280445.jpg?w=150 150w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"4","credit":"","camera":"DMC-FZ300","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617983198","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.5","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.0025","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280445.jpg?w=640" /> - Pond at Sprokkelwood
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Bright fairy toadstools at Sprokkelwood.
" data-image-title="IMG_7539" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7539.jpg" data-image-description="" height="225" width="300" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7539.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/img_7539/" alt="toadstall" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7539.jpg?w=300 300w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7539.jpg?w=600 600w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7539.jpg?w=150 150w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617974637","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7539.jpg?w=640" /> - Bright fairy toadstools at Sprokkelwood.
I find artist Keith Smith in a shed grinding a concrete sphere. Turns out his partner is Gretja Van Randen! We join her in her studio surrounded by a variety of mediums, from paints to felts. She tells me inspiration for the Blue Farmer project grew out of an awareness of the impacts of suicide across four generations of Keith’s family.
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One of Keith’s sculptures
" data-image-title="P1280461" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280461.jpg" data-image-description="" height="300" width="225" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280461.jpg?w=225" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/p1280461/" alt="wire sculpture" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280461.jpg?w=225 225w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280461.jpg?w=450 450w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280461.jpg?w=113 113w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"3.5","credit":"","camera":"DMC-FZ300","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617983557","copyright":"","focal_length":"36.1","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.005","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280461.jpg?w=640" /> - One of Keith’s sculptures
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Keith’s sculpture represents a new awakening
" data-image-title="IMG_7558" class="attachment-medium size-medium" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7558.jpg" data-image-description="" height="300" width="225" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7558.jpg?w=225" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/img_7558/" alt="Twisted sculpture" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7558.jpg?w=225 225w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7558.jpg?w=450 450w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7558.jpg?w=113 113w" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617977010","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7558.jpg?w=640" /> - Keith’s sculpture represents a new awakening
In the garden Keith explains his farmer father suicided when he was young and it has impacted his whole life. He finds art therapeutic and shows me a twisting sculpture that represents him awakening from his past life into a happier new life. It’s a powerful metaphor for the importance of art to mental health.
Gretja and Keith at Sprokkelwood
" data-image-title="IMG_7562" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7562.jpg" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617977165","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"20","shutter_speed":"0.0055555555555556","title":"","orientation":"1"}" width="300" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7562.jpg?w=300" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/img_7562/" alt="Gretja Van Randen and Keith Smith" height="225" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7562.jpg?w=300 300w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7562.jpg?w=600 600w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7562.jpg?w=150 150w" class="size-medium wp-image-2049" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/img_7562.jpg?w=640" />Gretja and Keith at Sprokkelwood
Keith loves the garden, designed 23 years ago by his then wife. He takes me on a tour, pointing out a Mexican weeping pine, whose needles hang like hair, and old fashioned rugosa roses whose perfume is intoxicating. It’s such a peaceful garden and I wish I had more time to linger.
Mini blue farmer
" data-image-title="P1280481" data-orig-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280481.jpg" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"","camera":"DMC-FZ300","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1617983916","copyright":"","focal_length":"9.4","iso":"200","shutter_speed":"0.02","title":"","orientation":"1"}" width="225" data-medium-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280481.jpg?w=225" data-permalink="https://briarstravelbeat.com.au/2021/08/15/street-art-with-heart-on-bruny-island-tasmania/p1280481/" alt="Blue farmer sculpture" height="300" srcset="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280481.jpg?w=225 225w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280481.jpg?w=450 450w, https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280481.jpg?w=113 113w" class="size-medium wp-image-2036" data-large-file="https://briarjensen.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/p1280481.jpg?w=640" />Mini blue farmer
As I leave I notice a small blue farmer near the gate. He’s looking out, of course.
