The installation of Burnie’s new gateway art sculpture, which some locals have compared to an ‘ugly french fry array’, has entered its final stages.
The controversial $1.25 million project, funded by the state government, will welcome visitors at the city’s entrance.
Located across the Bass Highway from McDonald’s, the artwork was selected by locals through a community consultation process last year.
A previously floated idea that would have swapped the colour from yellow to blue was widely praised by the community but shut down by the Burnie City Council due to contractual concerns.
The council say the work created by Tasmanian artists Geoff Farquhar-Still and David Hamilton is a “unique and bold gesture”.
“Local businesses The Engineering Company, AJ&M Construction and CSE Tasmania are working with Hamilton and Farquhar-Still to build and install the gateway,” a spokesperson said.
“Landscape design has been provided by J Formed Landscape Design with advice on Indigenous planting from Pakana Ranger and Land Manager, Brendan Lowery of One Tree at a Time.”
