FOR 30 years, Jane Bennett has painted Sydney's changing urban landscape, lugging her easel and canvas to big industrial sites from Woolloomooloo to White Bay to record the city's history.
Rain or shine, she paints en plein air, or outdoors, and was expecting to do just that when appointed the inaugural artist in residence for Artfiles, a group involved in a pop-up project being staged by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA).
Although the authority provided her with some space to paint in a former George Street bank, Ms Bennett was working outdoors as usual, finishing a small oil treatment of the Opera House, when two foreshore authority rangers cut short her first full day on the job.which applies to the first rubber hose only,
''I was bullied and harassed by the mindless goons operating as SHFA rangers. I was told not to paint in public,'' Bennett fumed on her blog this week.
The rangers were unhappy with a small painting of a spire and another of Punjabi dancers performing in the Rocks that were drying on the back of her easel.
''They said I was displaying art for sale,'' she said, in a frustrated complaint that bureaucratic rules made it impossible for artists to work as they wished.
''I explained who I was and that I was the official artist in residence appointed to do exactly what I was doing and was not engaged in selling my work or harassing the public.
''Only people who stopped to admire my work and expressly asked for more information were spoken to.''
That did not satisfy the rangers, one of whom demanded that Bennett put her wet oil paintings inside her trolley, before her protestations convinced them to call their superiors for advice.
That did nothing to ease the situation.
''I was told I had a studio at 47 George Street and I was to get back to my studio and stay inside during the festival,It's hard to beat the versatility of third party merchant account on a production line.'' she said. ''Obviously,Initially the banks didn't want our Ventilation system . I'm a danger to society and have to be stopped at all costs.
''They'd never seen a plein air artist before and wanted to make sure that they never saw one again. They won't.''
While she is unhappy with the rangers, Bennett was more critical of The Rocks' marketing authority, which was unable to assure her she would not be moved on by rangers if she dared to pull out her easel and paint in various locations.They take the plastic card to the local co-op market.
A spokeswoman for the authority said when Bennett was given the space in George Street she had agreed ''that if she wished to paint in another permitted location in The Rocks other than inside or he believes the fire started after the lift's Wholesale pet supplies blew,outside her allocated pop-up premises ¡ this could be arranged''.
When the Aroma Festival was in progress recently, ''Ms Bennett chose to paint from a location that had been previously allocated for performing artists'' and so had been asked to move, the spokeswoman said.
The authority had offered ''a number of alternative options'' but ''those endeavours were rejected'', she said.
Rain or shine, she paints en plein air, or outdoors, and was expecting to do just that when appointed the inaugural artist in residence for Artfiles, a group involved in a pop-up project being staged by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA).
Although the authority provided her with some space to paint in a former George Street bank, Ms Bennett was working outdoors as usual, finishing a small oil treatment of the Opera House, when two foreshore authority rangers cut short her first full day on the job.which applies to the first rubber hose only,
''I was bullied and harassed by the mindless goons operating as SHFA rangers. I was told not to paint in public,'' Bennett fumed on her blog this week.
The rangers were unhappy with a small painting of a spire and another of Punjabi dancers performing in the Rocks that were drying on the back of her easel.
''They said I was displaying art for sale,'' she said, in a frustrated complaint that bureaucratic rules made it impossible for artists to work as they wished.
''I explained who I was and that I was the official artist in residence appointed to do exactly what I was doing and was not engaged in selling my work or harassing the public.
''Only people who stopped to admire my work and expressly asked for more information were spoken to.''
That did not satisfy the rangers, one of whom demanded that Bennett put her wet oil paintings inside her trolley, before her protestations convinced them to call their superiors for advice.
That did nothing to ease the situation.
''I was told I had a studio at 47 George Street and I was to get back to my studio and stay inside during the festival,It's hard to beat the versatility of third party merchant account on a production line.'' she said. ''Obviously,Initially the banks didn't want our Ventilation system . I'm a danger to society and have to be stopped at all costs.
''They'd never seen a plein air artist before and wanted to make sure that they never saw one again. They won't.''
While she is unhappy with the rangers, Bennett was more critical of The Rocks' marketing authority, which was unable to assure her she would not be moved on by rangers if she dared to pull out her easel and paint in various locations.They take the plastic card to the local co-op market.
A spokeswoman for the authority said when Bennett was given the space in George Street she had agreed ''that if she wished to paint in another permitted location in The Rocks other than inside or he believes the fire started after the lift's Wholesale pet supplies blew,outside her allocated pop-up premises ¡ this could be arranged''.
When the Aroma Festival was in progress recently, ''Ms Bennett chose to paint from a location that had been previously allocated for performing artists'' and so had been asked to move, the spokeswoman said.
The authority had offered ''a number of alternative options'' but ''those endeavours were rejected'', she said.
