Stick Figures at Sculptors Victoria's Annual & Awards Exhibition

 It started playing with prunings - to be delighted with the random curves and patterns of the wood. Then the everyday life of watching people in public places going about their lives spoke to me.... also the regret that this is being chased away by fear and the atrocious happenings in the world... so a bit of nature inspired by my grandson sketching birds for me and an urban landscape of steps and the blue cloaks hoping that somehow the wisdom that inspired the United Nations will help the world see reason before civilisation and ordinary things are lost...

The exhibition runs until 29 June 2025 at the Victorian Artists Society galleries 430 Albert St East melbourne - and there is some amazing work there - which puts my little whittling to shame - we all contribute to give space for thought and wonder.

You are invited 💖

Broken Pieces at Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show

 

Years ago I rescued some pieces of marble - it had been a garden ornament and looked like concrete but then... once it was broken the marble could be identified. At any rate it stayed at my place for a long time until I tackled it for a piece to go into the sculpture exhibition at Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show in 2025.

There are more pieces - I can do different things with different pieces - depending on where the fractures and bruising shows in the stone... always plenty to look forward to... next Summer when I'm happy to work with water feed tools and polishing blocks 😉

Showing Sculpture on Herring Island

 It is quite a privilege to show work on Herring Island - for one thing the gallery is situated amongst some great outdoor environmental art.

Environmental art can be so many ideas: made of a restricted range of unmodified materials or creating an environment to modify our view of the world or designed to blend back into the environment as it decays.

Jude and her table...

chasing the shade

As a public space the third definition is a bit problematic and only available to the art produced in Jude Bridges-Tull's workshops at the exhibition.

And being amongst the permanent collection is quite inspiring - I had a bit of fun taking pictures.

detail of "Ramp"

Robert Jack's "Ramp"

Jill Peck's "Steerage"

Jill Peck's "Steerage" is an example of an environmental sculpture of unmodified materials creating an environment in place - the prow of the island.

"Falling Fence" Samantha Slicer and John Gollings

"Falling Fence"

"Falling Fence"

Julie Collins "Audience"

Julie Collins "Audience"

Andy Goldsworthy "Cairn"

Andy Goldsworthy
"Cairn"

Andy Goldsworthy "Stone House"

Andy Goldsworthy
"Stone House"

So I have another weekend to enjoy seeing my work in a Greg Burgess renovated building.

"Sun and Moon"

  

The gallery at set-up

Small and Beautiful

ESPLAN.ART - in the evening glow

 A hot day, bushfires west of the city, wind and then a change - this is Melbourne yes? Drops of rain splatting on the windscreen, a flash of lightning, a cool breeze and then a glorious evening. There was a suitably complicated sky - any wonder with all that going on. So we celebrated - in a small way, the launch of Sioma's gallery ESPLAN.ART

I've got two small works - pride of place in the window - "Once Upon a Time" and "Protector" - I like to think they go well with the other work on show - work in bronze, precious stones and metals and some laminated wood.... and talking with the guests and artists gathered - a privileged life in the face of the world's turmoil.

A complicated sky - bushfire smoke, wind, and different shapes of cloud sharing the same sky

Once Upon a Time - glass and redgum

Protector - glass and redgum

In even more prestigeous company

The Association of Sculptors of Victoria was given the opportunity to run a selling exhibition in the Sarah and Baillieu Myer Pavilion at McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. It was an amazing experience - the Pavilion is used as an education space, or for events such as weddings or conferences. And so we were able to lay it out for small to medium sculptures for two weeks. That was probably not long enough but we got to see some lovely visitors. 

The view through the exhibition to the grounds of McClelland Sculpture Park

I showed two works Lockdown 6 - with a little help from my friends and ...cry out: Olivia

..cry out: Olivia is a new work - carved salvaged wood from a tree in my daughter's garden... the wood with its warped form and grain full of character decided not to be a fruit bowl and told a story instead - of having two faces and a hidden yearning in the willow cabin.

Thanks to Rob Anderson Photography for the use of these images.

The inner surface
showing the text

transition one face
to another

the willow cabin

Three faces to Cry Out: Olivia inspired by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love,
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills,
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out ‘Olivia!’ O, you should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth,
But you should pity me…

 

The Lockdown 6 - with a little help from my friends looked well in the easterly light and against the timber walls of the pavilion. 

Lockdown 6 - with a little help from my friends
image courtesy Rob Anderson Photography