Sport and art are often poles apart but the two worlds collided on Sunday when Ballarat’s own marathon man Steve Moneghetti hosted an art run around the BOAA Lakeside Sculpture Walk at Lake Wendouree.
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About 40 art lovers joined Moneghetti, who is an ambassador for the Biennale of Australian Art, and BOAA director Julie Collins on the lap of the lake which paused at each of the 36 sculptures.
“Steve gave us an inspirational talk before we headed off, I rode a bike and the group ran from sculpture to sculpture where we stopped for three or so minutes and I spoke about each piece,” Ms Collins said.
“Sport and art are often not happy bedfellows but I think the Art Run was a really great way to talk about art and get people out and about.”
Alongside Ms Collins’ explanations of the art, Moneghetti also offered his interpretations of the works installed around the lake.
The Lakeside Sculpture Walk has been one of the most viewed exhibitions of BOAA, changing the vista for the thousands of people that use the lake and its surrounds, and drawing new visitors to see the artworks.
“What I can tell you is I have really enjoyed having the installations around the lake. I’ve spent my whole life here, I do hundreds of laps of the lake; but the colour and the interest of these sculptures breaking up the landscape of the lake, it’s been an absolute bonus and surprise,” Moneghetti said before the run.
The art run crowd was a mix of seasoned runners and those who just wanted to enjoy the lake from a different perspective, who welcomed the breaks every 150m to 200m for the art.
“We’ve had lots of feedback about the BOAA Lakeside Sculpture Walk with lots of people wanting particular pieces to remain there.
“They’ve also been really surprised that things haven’t been vandalised, we’ve just had to deal with wind damage, apart from Wendy Bolger’s posters which caused some controversy.”
BOAA comes to an end on Tuesday November 6 after its inaugural six-week run, with a closing party at the Mining Exchange from 5pm which is free and open to the public.
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