The Art of Elizabeth Quay

Client Development WA
Industry Government, Arts, Tourism

Elizabeth Quay is the highly visible and popular waterfront development that connects the Perth CBD with the Swan River. As part of the building project, local Western Australian artists were employed to produce permanent artwork installations throughout the development.

Firstnature were commissioned to produce a coffee table book to celebrate and provide a glimpse into the world of each of the artists who designed or made artworks for Elizabeth Quay. It is a snapshot of their conceptual process and an introduction to the complex, time-consuming techniques and exacting skills that went into making each finished piece.

We utilised 'Klein Blue' as the hero of our monochromatic scheme, which worked beautifully as a foil to the wonderful photographs taken by Robert Frith and words by curator Maggie Baxter. The exercise in 'interesting restraint' in typography and layout, helped the photos, artists and the work itself to shine. The juxtaposition of half and full leaf pages to denote images against supporting commentary and artist's perspectives on each of the works elevated further the book to a piece of art itself.

The book was received with great enthusiasm by recipients, the Department and the artists themselves. A wonderful project, working with great people to celebrate the important contribution creativity makes in the public realm.

"I loved working with Firstnature. Their approach was as inventive and contemporary as the artworks we were describing with close attention to small, but important details. The finished book is itself an artwork - and what was even better was that they were fun to work with as well as being on the ball with timeframes and production. The feedback has been very, very positive, all are mightily impressed."

Maggie Baxter, Public Art Coordinator & Author