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Public Art:
Dove & Olive Hotel

The Surry Hills Creative Precinct with support from a City of Sydney Creative Fellowships Grant, put the call out to Sydney-based artists interested in producing a bespoke artwork to enhance an existing Surry Hills space.

The Brief:
To transform the front of the Dove and Olive Hotel to encourage patrons to come back after the Covid-19 Lock-down.  

The owner wanted to bring nature to the hotel and connect with the newly created green space that was opposite. 

​Winning Concept:
Imagine having a drink with Surry Hill’s most colourful personalities, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Rainbow Lorikeet!

Admire their inquisitiveness as they look down at you, probably looking to taste your food or drink in true cheeky parrot fashion!


The aim of this art is to encourage people to notice and appreciate their urban birdlife, live harmoniously with them and also think about ways to help them.

We are so lucky to have our urban birdlife, but they are struggling a little. With fewer mature trees around (due to urban developments), Spring is always a challenge to find prime real estate, i.e. mature nest hollows.

Did you know that native birds like parrots and Kookaburras rely on tree hollows to nest.

It takes 100 years for a tree to form a small natural hollow, 250 years for a cockatoo size one.

The utility door was the perfect place to have a "tree hollow"
It was important to be able to access the door, so we used sticker panels that wrapped around each door element, so when closed the design/image looked seamless/continuous.

All the bolts were removed and re-installed to create a tidy finish.

The Cockatoos were perfectly suited to be in the windows

The windows still needed to let light in, so corflute boards were used and attached to the outside of the bars.

Testimonial
Again, congratulations on winning the art competition.
It was great working with you on the installation of the project, I really appreciate the effort you took in finding materials that met the needs of the pub as well as the artwork.
The sheeting used for the artwork on the windows was the perfect choice of material, it still lets in enough light and there is no concern with them covering the bathroom windows. Also, the way you used your photo’s on the doors, that ended up working really well in this space, while still allowing access to the gas meter and water pump was very clever.
You were so easy to work with on the day
Pop in when you are next in the area
Regards
Chris, Dove & Olive Hotel



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