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Ford Falcon ART Car Ready for Event (388)

The Ford Falcon Art Car is ready to take its place as a signature art installation at Ford’s “Outside the Oval” fund-raising exhibition this week.

The Falcon Art Car, the brainchild of senior Ford clay modeler, Peter Watson, has been four months in the making.

Watson has photographed 380 employees at Ford’s Broadmeadows plant as part of the project.

“I wanted to show the faces behind the Falcon,” he said. “I thought it would be a fitting celebration piece to all the personnel who literally bolt the car together on the production line. The biggest challenge was trying to do justice to every worker who volunteered to be part of the project.”

Watson said the idea surfaced as a signature piece for the “Outside the Oval” gallery exhibition, which will be held at the 1000 Pound Bend Gallery in Melbourne’s CBD. Many of the artworks will be for sale, with a portion of the proceeds supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

Ford is also using the event for the first public reveal of the 2014 Falcon XR8 sedan.

“Apart from the unveiling of the Falcon XR8, we thought it would be great to document in a visual form, employees across the company and also show our commitment to JDRF,” Watson said.

The actual Falcon sedan was built from two ‘body-in-whites’ from the company’s You Yangs Proving ground, near Geelong. When staff at the Proving Ground heard about the event, they were quickly allocated to the Design Centre at Broadmeadows.

“Otherwise they would have been scrapped,” Watson said. “I love the idea of recycling materials for artistic purposes.”

When “Outside the Oval” finishes the Falcon ART car will be used at other Ford events.

“It’s a great showcase of design and the enthusiasm we have at Ford,” Watson said. “Outside the Oval will also show to a wider audience the design talent we have here in Victoria.”

Showcasing Design

“Outside The Oval” will showcase more than 30 artworks created by the Ford Design Team.

The artworks include sculpture, 2D paintings and digital art. They have been created from a range of materials, from ceramic, foam, acrylic on canvas to clay. One artist has even created a full-size clay model of an in-line four-cylinder engine from a Model T.

In past years, the exhibition has been held internally at Ford as one of the fundraising activities for the JDRF. This is the first year the team has taken the exhibition to a wider audience.

“Outside The Oval” will be open to the public between 10am and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, October 4 and 5. Entry is free.

For more information on the artworks, go to: www.outsidetheoval.com

JDRF

Ford has been associated with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for more than 30 years. In 1983 Ford hosted a JDRF Fundraising walk in Dearborn, Michigan and the scope of the commitment grew globally.

In 1998, a grassroots employee initiative now known as the Ford Global Walk Team began. The event has grown dramatically over the past decade.

Ford volunteers donate significant time to leverage the company’s financial support. The Ford Global Action Team continues to raise funds globally and is committed to supporting JDRF and finding better treatments and a cure for type 1 diabetes.

TIn 2013, Ford Australia raised more than $25,000 for the cause, while Ford globally raised a staggering $3 million to fund critical JDRF research.