A NOVEL PRESENT

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 35, 9 August 1930, Page 19

A NOVEL PRESENT

Her Story io Bronze

Inspired by Miss Amy Johnson's! flying feat, Mr. "Victor 11. Wager, a young artist from Wcstoj-n Australia, now settled in Melbourne, modelled in bronze a .unique ornament which ho presented to the intrepid young airwoman. In tho. collection of: gifts she has taken back to England surely none will please her more than this piece of creative work by an Australian. The story of the flight is woven into a bronze vase shaped like tho top of a geographical globe with the slim boyish figure of „Miss Johnson garbed in flying costume, rising from the centre and supporting a pair oi outstretched wings, symbolical of the spirit of the flight. Tho modelling of the.wings is a faultless bit of craftsmanship. Pictorial embossing on the base mdi cates some of the obstacles.encountered on the flight—fog, heat, sandstorms, rain, head winds, angry seas, and jungle, the. .picture 'story finishing with the quotation, "Call me Johnnie," worked up in embossed design. Embossed lettering has also been used for the following inscription:— After nineteen days, ' sth to 24th May, 1930. The device is about 12 inches high, but to make the packing of it easier the designer''has fashioned it so that the figuj-o and "base can bo detached. .Modelling is only a hobby;*, with this young craftsman. He earns his living as a commercial.1 artist, and has never had a lesson-, in modelling. Mr. Wager is a member of tho Victorian Artists' Society, and is studying tho. higher branches .of . painting at. the National Gallery.