After hearing some facts about Featherston Military Camp at the recent book launch of 'A Long, Long Trail', Greytown illustrator and graphic designer Gerad Taylor decided to jump online and research it for himself. A few hours later he was building a 3D map of the vast complex using Cinema 4D, a modelling programme he uses professionally. Gerad’s animated map will feature as a video loop in 'Featherston Military Camp - A Record of a Remarkable Achievement', opening at Aratoi on 23 January.
'It started as a personal project, really,' he says. 'Like a lot of people, I'd driven past the spot where the camp used to be, just north of Featherston, but didn't know anything about it. It was the sheer scale of it that amazed me,” he says.
A Long, Long Trail focuses on the Rimutaka Marches and notes the history of the Camp as the country's main hub for training soldiers for the Front. The Camp's barracks housed 4500 people, with a Canvas Camp holding about 3000, making it the largest training camp in Australasia for it's time.
Gerad used heritage maps and photographs to reconstruct the camp, also checking in with Wairarapa Archive’s Neil Frances, author of A Long, Long Trail to get details correct such as the distinctive rows of river stones around the soldiers tents. Also included are to-scale soldiers, horses and a steam train modelled on a WB Series 299, likely to have carried troops and provisions to and from Trentham.
The programme allows me to put in an authentic looking Wairarapa landscape, plus lighting for different times of the day, says Gerad. The video loop will give people the feeling of flying over the Camp, so it gives a great sense of the size and look of the place in its heyday.
After being under a great deal of pressure to organize this large-scale history exhibition in a short period of time, the surprise of seeing Gerad's animation was a pure delight, says Aratoi director Alice Hutchison. To have someone of his talent contribute in such a dynamic way to our exhibition will be a highlight. We look forward to sharing this with the public.
Gerad estimates around 80 hours went into building the model and creating the film loop.
Featherston Military Camp – A Record of a Remarkable Achievement’, Aratoi, 23 January to 31 July 2016.
WHAT'S ON DATES:
Exhibitions: 2015 Friends of Aratoi Art Awards, until 7 Feb; Featherston Military Camp - A Record of a Remarkable Achievement, 23 Jan to 31 July 2016.
Events: Triump & Tragedy: The NZ Division in 1917 and three battles. Talk by leading military historian Prof. Glyn Harper. Aratoi, Thurs 28 Jan, 6-7pm.
Caption: Designer Gerad Taylor and a detail from his 3D model / animation of Featherston Military Camp.