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Ian Gentle with his eucalypt stick sculpture Salivating Croc, in the UOW Library. The acclaimed artist has been made a fellow of the University | 
| Artist Ian Gentle and UOW Librarian Felicity McGregor with Ian’s work Whispering Ant, which dominates the Library’s foyer |
UOW welcomes back acclaimed artist
16 Jul 2008 | Nick Hartgerink
Acclaimed artist and sculptor Ian Gentle’s art welcomes everyone who enters the University of Wollongong’s Library.
Ian’s prints and highly original eucalypt stick sculptures are distinctive features of the University’s art collection, and his Whispering Ant and Salivating Croc sculptures welcome every student and visitor to the Library foyer.
Many other prints and sculptures enliven study areas throughout the building.
Now UOW has reciprocated, welcoming its former staff member back as a Fellow of the University. He was admitted as a Fellow at the mid-year Graduation Ceremony today (16 July).
UOW Librarian Felicity McGregor presented the citation about Ian’s contribution to UOW and the wider community through his art and teaching.
“As the Faculty of Creative Arts’ Head of Sculpture in the 1990s, Ian was an inspirational teacher and developed supportive and enduring relationships with his students,” the citation said. “As a person of great integrity and generosity he has been a genuine friend and mentor to aspiring artists. His community spirit is evident in his passionate support for the preservation of the Clifton School of Arts where he lived and worked for 13 years. During his artist-in-residency at Long Bay’s Remand Centre, his rapport with prisoners earned him the sobriquet of ‘honorary lifer’.
“Although he is recognised nationally and internationally, Ian finds enough inspiration and materials in his own backyard to create sculptures which attempt to reach the essence of the subject and hence say something universally understood. He is unworldly and unpretentious yet passionate about his work which often incorporates his infectious wit and sometimes wicked sense of humour.”
“Ian Gentle has been a significant and generous contributor to both the aesthetic character of the University, to the wider community as well as to the education and development of many Creative Arts students. For these reasons, we today honour him as a Fellow of the University.”
Ms McGregor said students using the Library had become very attached to Whispering Ant and Salivating Croc, and many returned on their graduation day to be photographed in their graduation gowns in front of the sculptures.
Whispering Ant has a close connection with UOW, having been constructed in the early 1990s from sticks Ian gathered on the campus and in the bush at nearby Mt Keira. It was previously on display in the Administration Building, until the Library extension provided a wall large enough to show it to its best advantage.
Ian said he was honoured by the Fellowship, just as he was honoured to have his works on exhibition around the University campus. “This fellowship means a lot to me, and I have been really touched to discover that it means a lot to my family and friends as well,” he said.
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