A new artwork set to be the centrepiece of the entrance to the Wimmera River precinct has been unveiled by council.
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The piece, titled Liquid Arborescence, was designed and produced by Taradale artist Alex Sanson, who drew inspiration from the riverfront to make the design.
He said the artwork was meant to represent the life-giving properties rivers have in nature and society.
"This is a sculpture of a tree, and it is really a tree born of a river," he said.
"I just love rivers for the life they bring into an environment and a community. They are such important places, especially in this dry landscape."
Ms Sanson said the piece took multiple months to complete and required often intense fabrication work to produce the finished product.
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"This was a few very full-on months of work. I had three people in the workshop with me most of the time. It was 12-hour days for several months.
"It is light fabrication. What you would find in a lot of welding workshops. Stainless steel just requires a great deal of care to not contaminate it with things.
"You have to be very clean so you don't end up with rough stains."
Liquid Arborescence will also fit into the wider City to River activation, a ket project for the council which will see the development of a Wimmera riverfront precinct and accompanying infrastructure.
Horsham Rural City Council Project Office coordinator Dianna Blake said the section of the precinct the sculpture sits in cost $3.1 million and would include among other things a large pergola, toilets, barbecue shelters, landscaping and pathway works.
"The large pergola here is designed as an entrance to the precinct, welcoming the space, and the sculpture is supposed to represent the integration of the trees and the water," she said.
"It is very much designed as a meeting place, a place of coming together and gathering for the community."
Work has begun on the riverfront project, and has been given a completion time of two months - depending on weather conditions.
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When finished, Ms Blake said the area would improve the river's useability for both tourists and Horsham residents.
"It is going to make a big difference to tourism but also to our local population," she said.
"We have found very much that people who walk along this area everyday area really keen to see what the works are and how they are developing.
"The riverfront has been an underutilized asset for many years and this is bringing it to the forefront of community awareness."
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