Malta’s first permanent Sculpture Garden was officially inaugurated by President George Abela at Verdala Palace with the works of art of 11 contemporary artists. The Sculpture Garden also features four temporary installations by up and coming Mcast students and two international artists.

The first phase of the garden has installations submitted by two Gozitan artists, Paul Haber and Joe Xuereb, as well as from Maltese artists, Prof. Richard England, Gabriel Caruana, John Grima, George Muscat, Angelo Agius, Mario Galea, Norbert Francis Attard, Neville Ferry and Dolores Lungaro Mifsud.

These artists, except for the late Neville Ferry’s sculpture which was donated to the President of Malta by the Ferry family, were all compensated for the expenses incurred in the production of their sculptures.

A children’s area has also been created in the form of a life-size checkerboard similar to that used in the board game chess with squares arranged in two alternating colours, black and white, to serve as an inspirational space. The King, Knight, Rook, Bishop, and Queen pieces have been whitewashed and children will be allowed to express their creativity by painting and drawing on them.

During this first stage of this project, a committee was set up with the primary objective to enlarge and further develop this new concept. In fact this committee is to take care of establishing a process where future interested local and international artists will have the opportunity to submit their proposal for consideration.

The same procedure is to be adopted where these artists will also be compensated for the expenses directly incurred in the production of their sculpture.

“The project has turned out to be more attractive than envisaged with original pathways recreated or uncovered to lead visitors to the 17 works of art installed in the woods of the Verdala Palace. Overgrowth has also been cleared to uncover the site of the old Palace’s chapel. The site now provides a peaceful place where one can rest with benches designed by students based on leaves and produced out of steel. The emphasis of the garden will also be on education apart from serving as a permanent exhibition,” President Abela said.

The gardens and the palace will be open to the public on Sunday, March the 9th.

The works were placed in areas specifically identified by MEPA since the garden is a Natura 2000 site.

The Sculpture Garden project was proposed by President Abela to MCAST Art and Design Institute about two years ago. Mcast Director, Stephen Vella, assigned a group of MCAST students reading for a degree in 3D Design and Interior to work on the project and a scale model of the land surrounding Verdala Palace was designed and a holistic project presented for consideration.

MEPA and Bank of Valletta supported the Sculpture Garden project.

The Ecosystems Management Unit within the Environment Protection Directorate, MEPA was involved in this project by providing information about the biodiversity of Verdala and surrounding areas which form part of the Buskett and Girgenti Natura 2000 site. This information was used for the production of three panels describing the important and protected habitats typical of the Mediterranean Region and important and protected fauna and flora, some of which are endemic to the Maltese Islands.

Bank of Valletta, which was represented during the launch by CEO Charles Borg, is one of the main partners that participated in the Verdala Sculpture Garden project. “This garden gives yet another dimension to this impressive landmark of national heritage. It provides upcoming artists with the opportunity to leave their mark alongside that of their renowned peers. Concurrently a window of opportunity is created, both in time and space, for the community in general to appreciate these works of art at their leisure. As a patron of both arts and heritage, Bank of Valletta is actively linked to this Community Project. In 2010, Bank of Valletta also supported the restoration of the four decorated ceilings that adorn this same palace,” said Mr Borg.

The Government has also supported this project.

Photographs – Jeremy Wonnacott/DOI

Permalink: Malta’s first sculputure garden inaugurated at the Verdela Palace