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Neil Miller Sculpture

WaikatoTimes
by MATT BOWEN

Hamilton sculpture gets mixed reaction

Garden Place art work praised and damned

Love it, hate it, and Neil Miller's a happy man.

"It" is the as-yet unnamed 12-metre sculpture that grew out of the paved area in Hamilton's Garden Place yesterday.

Miller, the Titirangi-based artist who built the $110,000 work, is rapt that it's already being praised and damned.

Pedestrian Barry McKay's first thought was: "What the hell is this?"

After hearing that it symbolises the Pleiades constellation in the form of a growing vine, with the stars of Matariki forming the fruit, he loved it.

"There used to be an observatory here - Maori would sit on the top of the hill and wait for Matariki to rise," Mr Miller said.

"That would indicate when to plant the kumara [which were] planted in Garden Place - it's very much a motif for this site."

A nearby business owner said it did not matter what it represented because it was "so ugly". "Nearly everybody who's been through has had an opinion and none has been positive - even quiet people are angry."

Rototuna's Christine Parish called it "a horrendous waste of money".

The city council paid $100,000 for the project and WEL Energy Trust contributed $10,000.

Mr Miller took people's love and hate reactions as a positive sign. "You don't want that Mr In-between."

He said people came to respect public artworks over time, but there would always be the "odd idiot" who would try to climb it. "It becomes a conversation when a city develops a set of public artwork. It's my fifth major public sculpture and it's easily the best one."

Spatial Thoughts on Sculpture by Bill West
Wasn't it the Swiss fellow Eduard Billy Meier who had messages and contact from the Pleiades's? Now we have this fellow who is a Sculptor from New Zealand who has created this Sculpture that symbolizes the Pleiades's constellation. To put it politely there are two sides of thought on this Sculpture or both sides now, so to speak(remember that great tune by Judy Collins?). Moving on, I'm on the side of liking, I find the creation quite creative and interesting - Sculptor Neil Mill makes you think...

Neil Miller Sculpture
AIMING FOR THE STARS: Artist Neil Miller, high up on the right, helps put the final piece on his $110,000 sculpture, which represents the Pleiades constellation, in Garden Place.
PETER DRURY/ Fairfax NZ