Design and Art Australia Online

Community and public artist, landscape architect and urban designer. Royal’s tertiary education began in Landscape Architecture (University of New South Wales, Sydney) from which he graduated with honours in 1984 before working as a landscape architect for six years. Sensing that the study of art might allow greater insights into landscape architecture, in 1990 he commenced studies in sculpture at Sydney College of the Arts (University of Sydney), gaining his Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1992. Sometimes working with paint and photography, his early works were typically three-dimensional constructions that explored space. Equally, his work was informed by relationships fostered by the collaborative process.

In the early 1990s, Royal became known for his activities as a community artist working in the areas of health and environment. A participant in the Art Injection Projects 1 and 2 (1991 and 1992) conducted by Amanda Buckland at a children’s hospital – co-funded by Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown, and the Community and Cultural Development Board of the Australia Council – Royal gained early experience in working closely with a particular community group (sick children) to develop lively and thoughtful artworks. He concurred with the participating adolescent specialist, Dr David Bennet, that when patients “feel better they heal better”. Making playful sculptures out of abandoned hospital equipment with young, sick children both countered the blandness and tedium of hospital wards and provided opportunities for the kids to express their fears, anxieties and joys through creative outlets. In so doing Royal felt his art practice helped build their self-esteem.

Royal continued to work as a community artist with marginalised communities participating in the Brewarrina Creative Village Project in 1992 and subsequently the Brewarrina Cycle Way Project in 1994, where he worked with the local Aboriginal community to design and construct a cycleway that included sculptural walls and painted poles built by the local Aboriginal people. Between the period 1993-1994 Royal was employed as an arts planner and worked with other artists such as Marily Cintra to develop, manage and implement the Liverpool Hospital Art program, which involved bringing in artists to work in the hospital environment with patients and staff. The innovative nature of the project was recognised by the Australia Council for the Arts, which awarded the project the Community, Environment Art and Design (CEAD) Award in 1997.

Landscape architecture may have heightened his sensitivity to space, but his early experiences as an artist taught him that the process of collaboration built on “personal expression, creativity and energies” was every bit as important as the finished work.

Royal returned to an exploration of art and the environment in his temporary installation Woven Place (2004), developed in collaboration with landscape architect Jane Irwin for the Royal Botanic Gardens and Sydney Olympic Park. Tiny shards of glass tied to lengths of coloured wire dangling from tree branches suggested delicate and shimmering screens around these 'garden rooms’. Using found (recycled) objects and also heightening the sense of space and place within the parks, Royal’s installation was recognised with several awards such as the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Award (2005), Banksia Environmental Awards (2005), Special Jury Award from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) and the Design Excellence Award from Parramatta Council.

Royal’s work as a community artist lead him into his career as an urban designer, which is directly involved with planning for people and health. In this capacity he helped develop the Auburn Town Centre Integrated Public Art and Design Framework in 2004, thereby continuing his commitment to integrated public art and design in an ongoing effort to improve the quality of public spaces. This helped him to achieve a merit award from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects and the New South Wales Planning Minister’s Sydney Greenspace Award, both in 2005.

In 2008 Royal was living in Sydney and continuing his work as an urban designer.

Writers:

De Lorenzo, Dr Catherine Note:
Yuen, Herry Note:

Date written:

2008

Last updated:

2011

Status:

peer-reviewed