Visitors to Toowoon Bay Surf Club excitedly welcomed the first ever appearance of the Pedotle – an interactive sculpture designed with children in wheelchairs for everyone to enjoy.
Pronounced per dottle, its part pelican, part dolphin and part turtle. It flies, blinks and even farts bubbles.
Toowoon Bay’s Stingray Nippers Group Co-ordinator Karen Hickmott said the Pedotle celebrates the abilities of wheelchair participants rather than focusing on their disabilities.
Dreamed up by the Stingrays, the Pedotle became a reality with the help of artists Andi Mether and Leonardo Uribe from Zest Events, sculptor Tom Ireland and costume maker Tegan Kinder.
The project was commissioned by Creative Arts Central.
Toowoon Bay Surf Club member and Federal Member for Dobell, Emma McBride, was there to welcome the exotic creature.
“Andi was talking to me about this on patrol about 12 months ago,” she said.
“The idea of a pelican, turtle and a dolphin, pitched by Bailey, and then to see what Andi, Zest and Leo have been able to achieve is absolutely incredible.”
Stingrays Nipper participants Bailey and Krystal were the main inspiration for the design of the Pedotle.
Krystal has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal, the mechanics of the sculpture was based on her abilities.
Bailey took part in the artwork brainstorm sessions and was the main inspiration for the Pedotle’s colourful look.
Artist Leonardo Uribe said both were very excited to operate the sculpture and make it fly, and Krystal didn’t want to let go.
Volunteer lifesaver at the club, Andi Mether, said he and other volunteers work with the Stingrays who are children with additional needs.
“There is freedom for children in wheelchairs when they get in the water, and we wanted to create an interactive sculpture that would give them some of this fun and freedom on land,” Mether said.
Source:
Media release, Feb 23
Zest Events International