Strathalbyn Sculpture: The Kenny Blake Memorial
Perfect Weather For a Drive
The sun was out and not a cloud in the sky and also the offer of a picnic, how could I refuse. The destination was a small town to the south of Adelaide called Strathalbyn, and spending some time exploring the local area including the iconic status and also taking the time to practice my photography
Much loved local Bike Racer
The history of Ken blake was not too familiar to me but seeing this statue made me curious to find out more about him, and what he did, apparently he was a champion racer and won many races
Tragic Ending
Motorcycle racing can be a dangerous sport as we can see from the outcome that happened to Ken blake.
On June 9, 1981, Ken was riding at the Isle of Man, and in his usual style he was flying rounding up 103 riders in five laps of a six-lap race. He had started late due to a fuel leak. Ken pitted and shot out in eighth place, chasing down the leaders. 5 km down the road at Ballagarey Curve, he hit a wet patch and slid into a concrete post and died instantly.
His cremation on the Isle of Man and the ashes flown back to Australia for service in Melbourne on June 24, 1981. It was an occasion of a massive outpouring of grief.
The sculpture made from Bike Parts
It is made out of mechanical parts of all shapes and sizes welded together; he originally planned to make it all out of motorcycle parts and motorcycle-related tools, but other parts were included, such as aircraft pieces.
You can see the parts that went into making this statue, from the drill bits to the small spanners and even an old spark plug. Simply beautiful work.
South Australian
A Cooper's beer bottle cap on his helmet
renowned Goolwa artist
At a festival, the sculpture created by renowned Goolwa artist James Stewart the Governor of SA His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le conducted the unveiling ceremony
Find Your Small Gems
I encourage you to spend some time to visit these small towns in your local area you might be surprised to discover these gems of interest.
Quotes take from https://kennyblake.com.au/
All Photos Taken By Me.
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I remember speaking with you about this. I did a post on it about a year ago myself...Your pictures are better than mine were though. How cool is thing thing in person! It's amazing artwork huh? I love how the longer you look at it the more detail it reveals.
Good post bro...Curangeled this one.
I do remember discussing this as a topic for a post and thank you for the kind words about the photos. You totally need to see this artwork in person to fully enjoy its beauty, but I hope my pictures do it justice.
Steemfest 5 in Strathalbyn ya reckon? We call all get around and marvel at this artwork Lol. Good bakery there in Strath too! Lol.
Sounds like a plan, I have some more photos of strathalbyn. Ill save them for another post.
A good plan; Two or three stage blog-planning is the way to go. A single topic spread over two or three blogs. Just have some fun with it, write good posts and above all else engage with some users, on their blogs. That will get you on the radar and then when they visit your blog they'll find your good work and be more inclined to support you.
An amazing piece, such a sad story behind it, though. I wonder if it would have ever been made without the tragedy. Had life he lived to be an old man, would he have been able to see this hail to him, or would it not be there?
It is a dangerous sport, more so with the street races like the Isle of Man TT, where he crashed.
Proper race tracks are safer, but still dangerous.
Wow, that’s an amazing piece of artwork. I love that it represents a piece of history and honours someone’s life.
It is mate, well worth a trip to see it in person, there is a lot of history you can explore.
I’ll keep that in mind. :)
Like thd amount of effort that went into this is totally bat shit crazy
I believe it took him three months to make, the sculptor was as bike rider himself and had a similar triumph bike to use as a model.
But yeah it’s an outstanding effort.
Three months of dedication 🤔😭 thats back breaking dude. Thanks alot
How do you capture that sense of movement, using such inert pieces of metal?
I've always admired sculptors. There are some cool pieces around. I think I remember a larger-than-life Predator in the Enigma bar on Hindley.
That's what creative people can do, its a 1:1 scale of his Triumph bike apparently.
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very beautiful...
Thanks for your kind words.