The Beginning
1974THE BEGINNING: sculpture by David Cope, 1973-74
Information from conversations with David Cope and his mother, Muriel Cope, January 2003:
David Cope executed the sculpture The Beginning in the 1973-74 summer holidays while he was studying Art at a Perth technical college. While he was primarily studying graphic design, which is essentially a two dimensional medium. There was a sculptural elective at hand and, most importantly, a sawmill located just around the corner from the Cope home in Digby Street, Gosnells. David already had a good idea of what he wanted to make, so it was largely a matter of having an appropriately sized piece of Jarrah log dumped onto the lawn.
Factors within the log such as the position of some sizable cracks did cause the original idea to be modified somewhat. However the end result was the same as what was originally envisioned. David’s main shaping tool was a borrowed and somewhat erratic chainsaw. David was twenty at the time and soon moved to Sydney, leaving the sculpture behind on his parents’ lawn.
His Dad didn’t think that this was the best place for it and approached the Gosnells Council to see whether they would accept the piece as a donation to place in the grounds of their new offices. Moving the massive sculpture had to be done with a crane. When installed the piece became subject to vandalism and parts were broken off, the breaks being smoothed over by Council staff when The Beginning was relocated to the Liddelow Homestead around 1980. The sculpture was relocated to the new City of Gosnells Museum in Homestead Road in 1988, then returned to the Liddelow Homestead Arts & Crafts Centre around 2003.
David Cope still sculpts and lives in South Australia.
( Text by Stephen O’Brien, Local History Librarian, City of Gosnells.)
