Images: Liz Hansman<\/i><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silvio Apponyi is well known for his delightful and detailed sculptures, particularly of Australian animals. He was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1949, emigrated to Australia in 1951 and has lived at Balhannah in the Adelaide Hills for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cApponyi admits his favourite medium is wood and classifies\nhimself foremost as a carver.\u201d (Art Images Gallery)<\/p>\n\n\n\n However his life size granite sea lion at the Adelaide zoo ,\nanother on Granite Island, his tiny bronze frogs added to the sweeping,\nrippling stone water features at the Burnside Village and the large and\nevocative \u201cWhale Tail\u201d fountain at Victor Harbour, just hint at the variety of\nmedia and public artwork commissions undertaken by Apponyi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSilvio has been sculpting for around 40 years. His style has developed \u2026, from entirely abstract creations \u2026 to an astonishing level of detail and realism \u2026 His main inspiration is Australian fauna, and he hopes to draw attention to these unique and often endangered species. In his self-built studio, Silvio creates his sculptures in a variety of media, primarily wood, Australian granites and marbles and bronze. His sculptures range from delicate \u201cNetsuke\u201d style pieces to massive public granite works.\u201d (Blog Archive and Bio-Silvio Apponyi)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silvio won an art prize at high school then went to the S.A.\nSchool of Art gaining a Diploma of Fine Art in Sculpture. He won a scholarship\nspending two semesters at Munich Academy of Fine Art, then travelling in Europe\nand Britain studying public sculptures and fountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He continued to win prizes and recognition of his public art\ncommissions all around Australia, and taking every opportunity to expand his\nknowledge of art, design and other media. \nSome highlights are: learning woodblock print making in Japan, studying\nCarrara marble in Italy and exhibiting his work in e.g. Paris, Japan, Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silvio has used his artistic talents in many spheres,\nespecially by conducting workshops, almost everywhere he goes. He has been an invited\nartist, workshop presenter and contributor on study trips to many countries,\nincluding Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Japan, Spain and China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the 1990\u2019s his work was acclaimed almost every year\nat the \u201cWorking in Wood\u201d exhibitions in Melbourne and at the National\n\u201cEndangered Species Exhibition\u201d in the Adelaide Festival of Arts. In Meadre, France, he featured in their\nWildlife Art documentation Centre Exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Australia, amongst many exhibitions and requests,\nespecially in schools to create works of significance, he had a residency in Maroochy,\nQld.to carve marble sculptures for their Botanic Garden and in Mt Gambier he\nwas an invited artist and mentor on several occasions, for the ongoing\n\u201cLimestone Carving Symposium\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2005 Silvio won the Peoples\u2019 Choice Award at the S.A.\nMuseum\u2019s Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, and in 2006 won 1st<\/sup>\nprize in the Sculpture and Objects category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apponyi has held many solo exhibitions throughout the years,\nmainly in Adelaide galleries such as Hardy\u2019s Tintara Winery at McLaren Vale,\nand the Art Images Gallery, Norwood. S.A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But also interstate in \u201cBungandore Woodworks\u201d, NSW, and\ngalleries in Darwin, Mt Gambier, Murray\nBridge and Pt Lincoln.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silvio is constantly in demand for Major commissions and\nspecial purchases, such as the one metre high granite ram\u2019s head \u201cAries\u201d for\nthe University of Adelaide Waite Institute (1981).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Adelaide Rail Terminus\u2019 at Keswick, life sized bronze\nWedge Tailed Eagle (1994) and in 2000 at Thredbo Village NSW, the life-sized\nbronze\u201d Eastern Wombat and Grey Kangaroo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silvio has contributed in diverse ways to augment the\nknowledge of art and sculpture in Australia. \nHe was earlier interviewed by the SA State Library as part of the\n\u201cLiving History\u201d project. He has been\nArtist in Residence at Immanuel College in Adelaide. He has been on the panel of judges for the\nWaterhouse Natural History Art Prize. He\nbecame a Fellow of the Royal SA Society of Arts and Vice Chairman of the SA\nWoodgroup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He founded and Directed the Adelaide Hills International\nSculpture Symposium which brought sculptors of renown from several overseas\ncountries to create, share their knowledge and artistic skills here over\nseveral years. Silvio is pleased with\nhis granite Sculpture \u201cLe Peleton\u201d, carved during the 2012 symposium and now\nshown in Balhannah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April 2020 his rotating sculpture \u201cSpiggina\u201d, carved from\nParis creek marble, is shown on his blog, sited near the cloisters at the\nAdelaide University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On his current website, Silvio has photos of his busy time \u201cSocial\ndistancing\u201d during the corona virus. He has certainly not been idle! He is moving rocks with his large fork lift,\narranging flowers from his garden and carving delicate bird images in yellow\npine and teak wood given to him in Japan. He has also completed stone\nsculptures of a sea lion birdbath and leaping dolphins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, in the Queen\u2019s Birthday Honours, Silvio was\nawarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the visual arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silvio Apponyi is yet another example of the artistic talent\nof whom all Adelaide can be proud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Silvio-Apponyi.jpg?resize=480%2C390&ssl=1\")
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Do you have stories or memories of Silvio which you can share? <\/p>\n\n\n\n