This treasure is being featured in 50 Treasures Revisited – Celebrating 50 Years of James Cook University, which is on display at the Cairns Museum from 24 June to 28 October 2023. The exhibition is a collaboration between Cairns Museum and JCU Library, featuring 17 of the 50 Treasures from JCU Library Special Collections which most resonate with Far North Queensland.
Our fourteenth treasure is a maquette, which is what the art world calls an artist's scale model, of a JCU Townsville campus icon. From the JCU Art Collection comes The Investigator (maquette) by Anton Hasell.
The Investigator (maquette) sideviews. © Anton Hasell, 1994. Reproduced with permission of the artist. Photograph by Michael Marzik. |
This treasure is a memento, an epitome of the real treasure – the artist himself. An embodiment of the poetic, the artistic spirit of a man who recognized a need, Anton Hasell gave generously of his time and his passion to all those he encountered on the adventure that was his artist-in-residency at James Cook University in 1994.
Anton Hasell with a welded wall panel in the Sculpture Studio at the JCU Vincent Centre Campus, August 1994. Photograph by Jane Hawkins, supplied by artist. |
Anton Hasell pop riveting The Investigator in the studio, 1994. Photograph by Jane Hawkins, supplied by artist. |
Anton Hasell with The Investigator, 1994. Photograph: James Cook University Records. |
The Investigator and The Investigator (maquette). Photograph by artist. |
Over the course of 2020, JCU Library's Special Collections will be unveiling 50 Treasures from the collections to celebrate 50 years of James Cook University.
The Investigator on the banks of the Ross River. Photograph by artist.
Over the course of 2020, JCU Library's Special Collections unveiled 50 Treasures from the collections to celebrate 50 years of James Cook University.
JCU Library is fortunate to have collections of unique and rare resources — including artworks — of regional and national significance, describing life in the tropics. We hope you are inspired to explore further by visiting all of our digital treasures and their stories at NQHeritage@JCU.
Author Biography
Jane Hawkins, who was born in North Queensland, has been a sculptor for about forty years, during which time she gained a Master of Creative Arts degree and spent twenty-five years teaching sculpture in the tertiary sector. A whole generation of artists and art teachers have studied under her and watched her create several life-size bronze statues and participate in many solo and group exhibitions. Jane is now retired from the workforce and has been busy in her sculpture studio, her most recent commissioned work being the statue of Johnathan Thurston at the QCB Stadium in Townsville.
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