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

In Legal Company

Framing the Victorian Supreme Court Building 

 I couldn't resist an exhibition opportunity - so here I have three works in a group exhibition at Studio 11, Owen Dixon Chambers East, level 11, 205 William Street Melbourne 11 July to 15 September 2023. The building is open 9-5 weekdays.

The works are Sun and Moon, Once Upon a Time and A Silver Nutmeg and a Golden Pear.

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.