The Playing Windmills

This colourful work brings a sense of playfulness and joy to the public space near the Hobsonville Point Primary School. Three colossal windmill sculptures stand among flax plants bringing children delight and adults a sense of childhood nostalgia. Moving freely in the wind, the artwork references the positive energy of nature.

Artist Leon van den Eijkel grew up in Holland and recalls running home through cobbled streets with a simple windmill on a stick from the fairground, holding it high to show it off. The artist says, "I hope that the public see the humour of the small windmills on a huge scale".

The artist also has other Windmill series, Smiling Windmills, at Avalon Park in Lower Hutt, Wellington, and Remembrance Windmill at Bondi Beach, east of Sydney.

Hobsonville Point was an Air Force base before the area was set aside for a planned urban development. This work is a part of the five-kilometre-long Didsbury Art Trail that was initially commissioned by the developer, Hobsonville Land Company.