Today, I led a full day outing for my Probus Club (https://www.facebook.com/surreyhillsprobus) to Marysville and Bruno’s Sculpture garden. What an amazing day!
Marysville was almost completely destroyed in the disastrous 2009 bushfires With a population of around 600 people, only a handful of houses were left standing. Residents were moved to temporary accommodation in towns over 45 kms away and it took many years to rebuild the town. A good number of residents never returned.
Bruno Torfs, a local artist, is one of those residents who lost almost everything and had to rebuild from scratch. He was born in South America and later moved to Europe with his family. After coming to Australia, he established his sculpture garden in Marysville. With hard work and determination, his gallery was resurrected and was the first business to re-open after the fires.
In an introduction, Bruno regaled us with an amusing set of stories about his experience in the fires and his efforts to rebuild. He is a gifted artist and sculptor; somewhat eccentric and very imaginative.
His life-sized whimsical sculptures are nestled amongst a luscious rainforest setting on his property and provide a collection of fascinating characters that the he has hand crafted from clay and fired onsite in his kiln. This sculpture garden is rich with fantasy and creative beauty. I can heartily recommend that you visit if you happen to be in Marysville.
