Sun, sea, sand, sculpture

DAVID Handley’s love of culture and the arts started at an early age.

After watching Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar aged seven, he realised that, one day, he wanted to be involved in the arts and performance.

“I felt that the arts were one of the few areas where people still dreamed in the world. I liked the idea of facilitating artists’ dreams,” Mr Handley says.

That childhood certainty gave way to doubt in his teenage years, however, when he struggled to decide what career path to follow. Sydney-born Mr Handley opted for an arts degree, before studying law in Sydney and London.

“I was really quite lost as to what my career might be. I went along to free music concerts in Sydney like ‘Symphony by the Stars’. I really liked the idea of a free event, where no-one was trying to take something from you. That was very much the core of my thinking,” he says.

After working as a solicitor for two years, Mr Handley realised that he needed a break from the corporate world.

He found the inspiration he needed after a working holiday in Prague in the early 1990s.

“I was taken to an outdoor sculpture park set among 13th century ruins near the town of Klatovy in northern Bohemia. We were playing theatre sports and hide and seek among these sculptures and that’s when I realised the drama and theatricality of sculpture. I thought, I should do this one day,” Mr Handley says.

During this time he joined a Czech law firm, and established a film sales agency selling Australian and New Zealand movies.

After practising law for an additional two years, he wanted to go home and fulfil his childhood dream.

“I realised the film industry was where I wanted to be. I went to the Cannes Film Festival in 1994, where I met New Zealand producer James Wallace. He asked me to be an associate producer on some of his projects. This is the dream I had since I was seven,” he says.

Upon returning to Sydney in 1996, Mr Handley’s friends, who knew about his love of sculpture, suggested he take a stroll along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk.

“All around me I saw natural plinth after natural plinth where sculptures of all descriptions could be installed. At the time I was expecting to land a major film job so the idea for the exhibition was put on hold. When I realised the film job was not going to come through, I thought I would set Art by the Sea in motion,” he says.

It didn’t take Mr Handley more than a day to realise that paintings would be a liability in the sometimes wild weather off the cliff-top walk so, as a result, Sculpture by the Sea was born.

“Ten weeks later the first show was on and I had a great deal of people who volunteered on the project. Out of nowhere all these sculptors wanted to be at the show, we had over 120 applications,” he says.

In its first year, Sculpture by the Sea showcased the works of 64 different sculptors.

“In 1997 we started with a budget of $100, but managed to pool together $11,000 from a number of donors, including Bryce Courtney and his wife, who sponsor the young sculptor’s prize in honor of their son Damon,” Mr Handley says.

After six years, a major sponsor expressed its desire to see Sculpture by the Sea exhibited in either Queensland or Western Australia.

In 2005, Sculpture by the Sea Cottesloe Beach was launched, and is now backed by sponsors including NAB and Vivid Wireless, and major partners Alcoa and Eventscorp.

“I immediately chose Perth because I knew Cottesloe would be a great location. I loved the idea of connecting east and west, with the sun rising in Sydney and setting in Perth,” Mr Handley says.

Mr Handley says funding the exhibition as a non-profit organisation, can be problematic, with the major source of income coming from corporate sponsorship, private donors and commission on sculpture sales.

Artists pay a small entry fee, but have to pay for their own freight and sculpture materials.

“We don’t have enough funds to provide significant support for the artists; 30 per cent of the artists actually lose money, so we are hoping to increase the level of support for the artists,” he says.

More than $900,000 worth of sculptures was sold at Cottesloe last year, with the commission from these sales going directly back into the exhibition.

With more than 180 applications from sculptors around the world for this year’s event, Mr Handley hopes the public can do its part to help Sculpture by the Sea become an international event.

“I want to build this exhibition into something that every good sculptor wants to be in at some point in their life, but to make it possible we will need an extra amount of money to help support the artists more; this is my biggest challenge at the moment,” he says.

Mr Handley recommends the exhibition as a must-see for any generation.

“For kids it’s like a giant fantasy land and the thing that will bring a smile to almost every adult face is a happy smiling kid. There’s a million smiling kids at Sculpture by the Sea; what might seem big for your eyes becomes gigantic for them,” he says.

The event is free, but Mr Handley says any small donation is appreciated.

Sculpture by the Sea will return to Cottesloe Beach from March 3-22.

What is the most rewarding aspect of Sculpture by the Sea?

The smiles on people’s faces; that’s exactly why I started Sculpture by the Sea. It’s simply a gift for the people of Perth and its visitors and it is a gift that’s made possible by our sponsors and our donors.

What have you found the most challenging about Sculpture by the Sea?

It’s definitely the money side of things; I probably don’t focus enough on money because I’m an ‘ideas’ person. We’re always trying to do more with the budget than what we’ve got, so it’s a challenge to keep up with what we want to do.

Why did you pick the ocean as a backdrop for the exhibition?

I love being in the water and when you stand on Cottesloe Beach and look out past Rottnest it feels like you are looking across the planet. Perth has the most beautiful sunsets of any metropolis around the world, and that view is a perfect backdrop for sculpture.