Bermagui's Edward Willson picked for Sculptures in the Garden

Sculptures in the Garden will open in Mudgee on October 7 in the picturesque Rosby Vineyard gardens.

It is the fifth time that Mr Willson has exhibited his work at the exhibition which is one of his favourites.

It is a long trek to Mudgee for Mr Willson, one that influenced his latest sculpture, the Angel of Mudgee.

"It was inspired by my annual pilgrimage out west over the Western Plains," he said.

"I have had a few accidents, been bogged and stuck in the mud.

"Sometimes it feels like I have an angel with me, protecting me, so I hope it is a gift to Mudgee."

It started with a sketch and Mr Willson has been working very hard on it for the last three to four weeks.

"I have been flat out trying to get it ready and the exhibition is only three weeks away," he said.

The Angel of Mudgee is made from granite, Mr Willson's preferred material due to its durability, and corten steel.

It stands 180cm tall, including the plinth.

Mr Willson sent the exhibition organisers a picture of it as a work in progress.

On that basis, it was selected as a finalist.

"I guess they know my work," he said.

He is also exhibiting a smaller work called Trip to Mars.

It was inspired by the beautiful pink colour of the marble that he purchased when living in Poland in 2020 while his partner was in an artist's residency there.

The marble, local to Krakow, "is very bizarre with lots of twists and turns so Trip to Mars seemed appropriate to me", he said.

Sculptures in the Garden was founded in 2011 by Gerry and Kay Norton-Knight.

Mr Willson said the curator, Ms Norton-Knight, and her daughters and sons-in-law run a very well organised exhibition.

"They are also very generous people," he said.

They usually pay him a small stipend to to help pay for petrol.

Both his works will be for sale at the two-week exhibition.

Mr Willson endeavours to make, and sell, five or six sculptures every year and enters around the same number of exhibitions.