Boy and Fish | Fraser Coast Regional Council Public Art Collection

Story: Gayel Airs. Photo: Hayden Whittle. Sculpture: Terry Summers, Duo, 2006, bronze sculpture. Fraser Coast Regional Council Public Art Collection

Standing proudly in front of the historic Urangan Pier, the sculpture titled Duo, is a much-loved piece of public art on the Fraser Coast.

With the Urangan Pier being a popular place for families and fisherman, locals and visitors alike often share a similar memory of landing a fish over the iconic white wooden railings. 

Invoking the excitement of reeling in your first fish, the boy greets and engages those around him and encourages them to stand with him and experience his joy. Maybe even take a picture or two.

Commissioned in 2006, by the Hervey Bay City Council for the Pier Park precinct, Terry Summers created the free-standing bronze sculpture utilsing a cardboard pattern.

As a student, Terry had little money to buy art materials so he made his work from cardboard crates salvaged from the local supermarkets.

Terry won a prestigious sculpture award and and subsequently worked with Urban Art Projects in Brisbane who cast his works in bronze and aluminium for commissions. It truly is an honour to have one of his works here on the Fraser Coast.

Terry has also created a vast collection of detailed cardboard structures and sculptures that have been displayed in the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, St John's Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane, Robina Hospital, and Sydney Powerhouse Museum, among other locations.

We all know the saying – one man's trash is another man's treasure – and Terry demonstrates this by creating compelling and sought-after works of art from recycled cardboard. There is certainly something about Terry's quirky cardboard creations that makes them so captivating. They are simple, and yet detailed. They are caricatures, and yet life-like.