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The Spinifex Flyer
Product Details
Artwork Description:
The Spinifex Flyer locomotive sculpture reclaims a 1941 vintage Singer sewing machine, transforming it into a miniature locomotive honouring the 1911 Port Hedland–Marble Bar railway.
The Singer is re-engineered with copper piping, brass fittings, steel wheels and chain drives to become the resilient “
Spinifex Flyer” – the slow, narrow-gauge train that linked Pilbara coast to Marble Bar. Fusing mechanical precision with raw industrial rail aesthetics, the work explores colonial infrastructure, and the slow grind of progress across spinifex country. Part steampunk relic, part love letter to Pilbara history, it celebrates ingenuity in making something new from what the past left behind.
Category: Sculpture
Artwork Medium: Metal, Brass, Copper
390h x 575w x 270d (cm)
Artist Bio:
Jonathon is an artist based in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Working primarily with metals such as steel, copper, and brass, often sourced from recycled or industrial materials creating robust, he hand-crafts sculptures that celebrate the strength and character of regional life.
Having moved to the Pilbara in 2015, Jonathon draws deep inspiration and connection from the area's unique landscape, powerful industrial presence, and the critical importance of its rail networks. His work explores themes of resilience, unity, and the enduring spirit of the Pilbara's diverse community and
culture through welding, fabrication and intuitive design processes developed from a young age. Jonathon transforms scrap metals and recycled objects into meaningful, tactile sculptures.
Born and raised in the 1970s in the Hunter Valley New South Wales, Jonathon learned metalwork techniques from talented local tradespeople. He was a finalist in the 2023
Jury Art Prize and continues to create work inspired by personal stories of family, love, and the industrial environments that have shaped his life.
Jonathon is passionate about giving new purpose to materials that might otherwise be discarded, contributing to the vibrant contemporary art scene.
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