Today I would have been helping set up the title labels for the exhibition at the Carlton Gardens.... but the whole Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show was cancelled a week ago and we have all been running around ever since trying to figure what to do....
Hopefully there will be an online exhibition. It will be hard putting that together since sculpture is a matter of real presence.
A Silver Nutmeg and a Golden Pear (2018)
It's been a bit tricky getting work done lately - car out of action in the airbag saga and not going to be replaced because my dear little Honda is 22 years old... but irreplaceable... I suppose I'll be managing with car share for a while - I'm just nervous of that too while the 'rona is about.
So wash hands everyone - we'll get an online exhibition going and put on a better show on the other side of this world changing crisis.
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
Herring Island in the middle of the Yarra River is a great place - it appears to be natural bush but the Friends of Herring Island will tell you the long and arduous battle they have had to get things to grow. But it's coming up a treat as pioneer natives give way to something closer to a community. The Association of Sculptors of Victoria runs a show as part of the Herring Island Summer Arts Festival - in 2019 from 12 January to 3 February.
So I put two works in:
"Sun and Moon" and a new one "Meander"
Sun and Moon (image Rob Anderson Photography)
"Meander" is a continuation of the bronze and glass story - and the subject - maybe a lament for the Darling River - was intended to find an echo of sunlight through water and the re-wilding of rivers.
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...
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..
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!
