Public art in the Georges River area – Col Henry

‘Meaning’ by Col Henry

Kogarah Town Centre

Installed: 2013 (Permanent)

Col Henry is a sculptor and artist who lists his main qualifications as a ‘Long and Diverse Life Experience’. He has several degrees and diplomas in areas such as welding, industrial foundry, panel-beating and spray painting, and worked as a full time TAFE teacher before retiring to full time sculpting in 1995. Col works with a variety of mediums to achieve diverse styles. He has a passion for art and sculpture, and has become known for his ground breaking innovations in working materials into new forms. He has been collected by many private collections, both in Australia and overseas.

Col Henry has produced three sculptures for the former City of Kogarah; Meaning in Kogarah Town Centre, Place of Reeds in Carss Park Community Garden and Life’s Cycle in Henry Hogben Park.

The concept for Meaning was to depict the name ‘Kogarah’ which means ‘place of reeds’. Meaning is a four-metre tall sculptural piece made of two types of stainless steel; one mirror polished, and the other a ‘rusted patina’ style developed by Col over many years. Although made of metal, the sculpture has been crafted to look like timber reed-like arms with glistening silver tips.

Meaning took four months to sculpt and was installed in August 2013 after the re-launch of the Kogarah Town Centre.

• Kogarah Town Square