Friday, February 23, 2024

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

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

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