THE Arts project on Lake Tyers

OK. So what is Float?
FLOAT is a project to build a floating artists studio resident on Lake Tyers.  The pontoon style habitat will in itself be a creative effort by many of the people in the district and will allow imaginative and sensitive work to be generated "at one" with our beautiful lake.  FLOAT will sponsor a wide range of activities, and provide a focal point for local people to raise the awareness of the arts in the Lakes Entrance and Lake Tyers Beach area.  It will literally provide a platform for promotion of the Arts in East Gippsland. It is a part of the the Small Towns Transformation project, and is part of a collection of six energetic towns with inspired artistic communities spread right across Victoria.

Sounds interesting?  Well there is a FLOAT ART@LTB Facebook Group with an active discussion session that you can join.  The key mover and shaker in this project is Andrea Lane  who has been one of the very active contributors to the success of the FROUTVILLE events.  These highly popular events have been laying the foundation for a number of years now, and fostering our local Arts communities.

The measure of the support from the community can be seen from this photograph taken off the balcony of the Tavern, capturing all the people who attended the launch of the project on 17th September, 2016.


  (Picture courtesy of Lakes Post and the FLOAT group)

This page will not try to keep abreast of the very latest information concerning the FLOAT project, so please use the links above to read the current FLOAT Facebook pages.  However we do wish the FLOAT project the very best outcomes and hope that many people enjoy the journey and help build the profile of artistic endeavor in this area.

• FLOAT is an Arts Studio - for Lake-Loving artists in residence.
• FLOATing on our very own Lake Tyers!
• FLOAT will be an artwork in itself - created by local boat builders and a team of artists.
• FLOAT will allow - weather observations, wildlife observation, gathering data, telling stories.
• FLOAT will promote connections between the town and the Aboriginal Trust.
• FLOAT will have a year long program synchronised with the seasons.
• FLOAT will produce an artistic map by which to navigate and camp.
• FLOAT will kick start an Art camp to underpin the glamping social enterprise.
• FLOAT will broadcast on an FM transmitter "Float-FM" the story to the world.
• FLOAT will be launched globally in conjunction with the Groundswell Concert.

Here is the progress of the FLOATing studio as of the 11 Nov 2017. Moored at Fishermans Landing.

We have had our FLOAT moment with our works and thoughts exhibited at Lake Tyers House, 3 Feb 2018.
Thank you to all those who were officially responsible and to those who volunteered.
Your insight and direction was just so, so good.
It was a wonderful, inspiring day, full of generous gestures and exciting future opportunities.
Upon reflection, the moment that summed the journey up for me was the in the early morning, out on the sandbar with many others....

The Boomerang

Against the grey morning clouds,
People were just tiny outlines on the sandy horizon.
The crowd was eager, heightened with anticipation.

When both cleansed and welcomed by warm, intimate smoke,
Some walkers began to break away and begin their journey.

We had taken but a few steps,
When Pauli, clutching three boomerangs,
Swapped one into his throwing hand,
And quickly and powerfully launched it away.
Out across the sands it went, spinning fiercely,
Quickly climbing, in a huge arc framed against the clouds.

Not all people were watching, and for a short while
We wondered in that dim light what disaster might happen.
The impulse to cry out, warn others, take cover, duck!
Ran like a stampede through my mind.

Then the boomerang reached its zenith,
Circling us overhead, gradually losing speed
and floating gently back to Pauli's expert hands.

We had dared to hope.
To aim for the sky,
And for a while ,
We too were trapped in a free fall.
Only to find,
Our fears were the only real danger that we had to overcome,
To begin our new day.

Rob Ward Feb 2018