Love as an Act of Rebellion

 from Wikipedia:

Greek language has at least six different words to describe love where modern English language only has one. They include agápē, érōs, philía, philautía, storgē, and xenía; some of which are based in Ancient Greek philosophy, particularly Aristotle and Plato.

Some days even hope is an act of rebellion or perhaps extreme stupidity... I'm not sure which.... such an emotion comes from doom scrolling in the night rather than the weekends and public holidays exhibition we just wrapped up on Herring Island.

The exhibition and the Island attract wonderful visitors - families, couples, singles - all relaxed and inspired by the short trip across the water and ready to view art in the spirit in which it was produced. 

And in troubled times I'm hoping to give peace and courage - it's hard to find in the face of a self centred onslaught.... don't people realise that we are interdependent?... that everyone contributes to everyone else's lived experience?.... so in this exhibition I showed "Turn" and "Stick Figures". Because I treasure that fragile, ordinary life that is denied to so many because of apartheid, colonialism and war-mongering.

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

Stardust to Stardust

 A branch fell off a street tree near my place narrowly missing my neighbours' car... when it came to having it cut up and taken away they gave me two pieces. It took a long time to find the inspiration that suited the wood... but now the work is being entered in the Herring Island Summer Arts Festival Sculpture exhibition - "Connection"

"We are all stardust formed in the creation nova - so a life flows between the stars in twists and turns and pools and rapids from stardust to stardust."

the start was seeing the bridge

 

and cutting out some of the less sound wood

then the wood started to tell its own story

and there comes a time to see what the oil brings out in the grain

and the grain is captivating -
details recording the incidents of the tree's growth

more grain... more interplay between
the inner and outer surface of the branch

The work is in the Association of Sculptors of Victoria exhibition on Herring Island as well as the online exhibition and will be on show until 5 February 2023.

Dreaming in Uncertain Times

 

"Once Upon a Time"
cast glass, upcycled red gum garden sleeper

A small one to supplement the big one at the upcoming Sculptors Victoria Annual Exhibition. I'm giving the Lockdown 6 companions another run - this time set up on a burnt oregon board. It's exciting to be back exhibiting in real life... but people are still catching it and dying. 

I'm collecting from @flb_58  tomorrow - last chance to see "Sun and Moon" - I'm quite fond of it... if it doesn't sell this time I think I'll keep it.

"Once Upon a Time" - a story about storytelling or a story about parenting? Well parenting never got an image out of me while I was parenting myself... too all consuming not to mention heartbreaking and demoralising. It's only afterwards I got romantic about it - and the children have grown up to be amazing people!

As they say - write your own story! 

first try with the
glass casting

carving from both sides

ready for the glass...

out of iso... and Against the Odds - on exhibition

 What a long lonely year that was! And then the frantic preparation for a Covid19 safe exhibition! I had a part to play - the real work was done by experts but there's a lot of running around... and thanks to https://www.instagram.com/robandersonphotographer/ for the images of my work - that made a huge difference to the presentation!

Contemplating the Finite

And of course lots of other people helped - the online exhibition 

Contemplating the Finite

https://sculptorsvictoria.asn.au/virtual-exhibition/2021-herring-island-summer-arts-festival will be active until February 28 2021

On the record again

After a long break it's time to update the records.

"Meander" went into the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. No sale and no prize but it looked pretty well there.

"Meander" as photographed by Rob Anderson at MIFGS 2019

Lucky for me - and a pretty impressive compliment the work sold later to one of my suppliers... it's gone to a very loving home. Wow!

So on with the show fortified by that bit of confidence raising I worked on the inspiration of Shakespeare's Sonnet 29... and thought of the emotional lift at dawn when the birds go up all together.

The process was prolonged... finding the form and then figuring how to make it... and then transporting the wax in its frame hanging by bits of jute string to the foundry.... Mal Wood is not only skilful but extremely courageous!

And so the work was exhibited at the Association of Sculptors of Victoria Annual and Awards Exhibition - to prize winning acclaim! An honour! Lucky me!

a work in bronze, glass
stainless steel and pebbles

with a signature "rock"

... at break of day arising.....

as photographed by Rob Hay

The Gunnersen Thomas medallion
sculptor Michael Meszaros

Winner of the 2019 Margaret Gunnersen William Hoggan Thomas Award 2019

The Next Step

Extending the lessons learned from the Dancing Tree I got hold of some casting wax - much harder and structurally sound - but still the ideas marched ahead of the technique and Mal Wood had heaps of work making sure that the cast work reflected my plans... but it worked!

The Moon

Casting the glass pieces provided its own adventure... it's been a while since I built a mold and one ruptured - the mess is still in the bottom of the kiln - but the next firing with both sun and moon in the kiln together gave me the results. And thanks to James Thompson of Blackwood Crystal for coming up with the right colours... the adventure never stops...

The Sun

The final work was shown at the Association of Sculptors of Victoria Annual and Awards Exhibition. And amazingly my peers awarded me a Highly Commended mention. And of course I got a professional image of the work in all its glory.

"Sun and Moon"

So what is the work about? A bit of nature worship? The fire of creation and the water cycle? To me it is a mini cosmos - the pull of the sun and moon driving the water cycle and linking growth and maybe beauty. Hopefully it will speak to different people in different ways - there is no one perfect art form and no one perfect idea of being. Just this is the way I'm working at the moment.

The work is at Qdos Gallery until the end of October... then - who knows..

Dancing Tree

I owe so many people for their support in making this one... first Yvonne for putting the pressure on to make something for the ASV exhibition at the Flower Show. Then Mal Wood for taking my experimental work and coping with the inherent difficulty of an experiment and the deadline... and getting an amazing result...wow! And - there's more - Andrew Bryant found some timber lying around and turned it into the base for the work...... all that to produce an object from an idea - thank you everyone...

Stage one was the experiment: to see if bronze woven wire can be used to support a wax sculpture for a lost wax casting.

the wax - on  bronze woven wire

That was tricky - the micro crystalline wax I used was too soft... so the work was floppy and had to be cut into multiple pieces - a total learning experience - but now I'm on the journey and can make more complex pieces... I hope.

the first view of the bronze casting after it has been reassembled

There was some holding of breath and then mad exultation when Mal and his team showed me the casting - it danced - it lives!

 Then to find a base to present the work - much thanks to Andrew!

Burning is magic too

Thanks Andrew.... then assembly and patenation - alchemy!

And finally the pear.... it's been a while since I cast work in the kiln... now I can get a reading on how my power consumption goes: 



Two molds went into the kiln on the Saturday afternoon.... I tried to pick the time when there wouldn't be a "curb your power" moment... just made it!

two castings and one to be used on this tree

And then... oh yes David helped me get the work out of the car and set up at the show.

image: Rob Anderson Photography

image: Rob Anderson Photography

and then... thanks everyone.... the work won a second prize in the Garden Section... and it sold! Am I a lucky one!

"Dancing Tree" in its new home - thank you everyone!

Back to Work

The past few months have been interesting domestically - and now the studio and house are surrounded by a sea of mud as drainage issues are addressed. Soon it will be back to normal with only the chooks to stir the place up.

Poseidon (maquette)

Poseidon

Poseidon

I put a bronze casting into the Annual Exhibition - a maquette because I wasn't brave enough to go for a metre high work before resolving the form. It took a bit of effort to make it look as though I'd just thrown it together.

And then to the question of the presentation of art - or the presentation of food.... and so I made "Deconstruct" which would be a pleasant enough piece of Manchurian pear wood - so how do you like it served?

Deconstruct

The exhibition is on at 600 Bourke Street Melbourne until 26 August

The ASV Annual and Awards Exhibition

In amongst everything else I managed to put my work into the show. The foyer of 120 Collins Street is an awe inspiring spot - the ceiling is very high and there is a skylight way above. The 105 odd works fill the place reasonably well -  and my three are in there. I've got two works from previous Herring Island shows and one new one.

Four Horsemen

The Four Horsemen sit pretty well - even though that particular work would go best against a wall. I put together a YouTube clip to explain the concept of that one ... I wonder if I'm imposing my interpretation on an unwilling audience?

Release the Dream

Then there's Release the Dream that decided its own mood .... a lovely piece of Manchurian pear wood that came from Canberra.

After that the new one - a piece in wire and plaster coated with polyurethane by Austuf and then painted... and that was fun! Here's the background for The Pelagic Creation:

In the beginning, Eurynome's movement southwards caused the North wind to spring up behind her. She turned and thought this looked interesting and rubbed it between her hands. So was the serpent Ophion formed. They danced and coupled, then Eurynome became a dove and brooded their egg on the waters. From this egg all living things were born. Précis from Robert Graves Greek Myths. The work is painted in homage to black opal – a distillation of the primordial sea. It would cost five times as much if cast in metal.

The Pelagic Creation

The photography of the show was a marathon effort - although Rob Anderson took it in his stride - I suspect he works that hard every day. It will take a little longer to get all the data entered on the ASV website... still glitches in the system for entering prize winners - but it's getting there.... wish us all luck.