Natural response exhibition

Sitting in a tree is such a simple pleasure. It in itself is another world above the mundane. You can see further, you may not be found and it is your choice to be there. To read as well sort of amplifies the decision and you really are transported to another place. I would love a tree house as my days of moulding my body to the form or tree limbs is mostly gone… but I doubt it is going to happen as my shed provides me another world to go to where I create things like this.

Well, that is the title of Rodney’s book that Helen has illustrated. I just figured I would add my interpretation of the idea. I have done a range of birds at various times and changing the scale relationships seems to add all sorts of interest to the idea. I am not sure if we would love birds more if we had this sort of relationship or if we would fear them but it certainly would be interesting!

We pick flowers and move them from out to in.. presumably to give colour, aroma and a bit of nature to surround us. Again I guess this piece looks at that practice but changes the scale. This flower is another piece of blacksmith stuff and it seemed to be calling out for some such arrangement. I guess we would have a whole different way of decorating if this was more typical.!.

This one completes the trilogy of cutlery. It seems a bit crude and sort of unpleasant but it is also meant to be fun. We do get hung up on the everyday at times and this sort of represents this aspect of life. We can make the choice as to what to give value to and chances are we will end up in a slightly better situation. Hopefully “unforked”!.

I did a large piece called” life dance” with a girl throwing herself into the dance as though it was all there was. This smaller piece has the same theme but I added the ball as it suggests mastery ( balance) and universality. I cant dance myself but I love the thought of people who can and revel in it.

Yet another piece with ladders!! I saw a piece of jewelery in Art almanac and thought that I could reinterpret the idea into a largish sculpture using my panel method. I don’t know what it is about height but we all seem to love some altitude for a view. I have had similar experiences at all sorts of places from the You Yangs to Mt Cannibal but I can concieve of having a rock outcrop on your property which was just yours. The lack of handrails and the chance to sit in a sort of dangerous position is quite sublime.It is sort of an effort to get there but once there you are quite “safe” and in control.A tree house can give a similar feeling but this girl has this “rock outcrop” as her special place.

“On a Knife edge”($200)
Having done the piece with the spoon it seemed appropriate to do something with other cutlery items. This is my interpretation using a knife. I have never really been a thrill seeker( except for one parachute jump) but I know there are lots of people who rise to the challenge to “do the impossible”.They are inspirations for us all and my character here is certainly doing what I cant( I cant even stand on one leg like this!) Still others can and I do enjoy their endeavours as representatives of us all.

I went to see an exhibition at The NGV entitled the Neo Impressionists and they had some nice work by Signac, Seurat and others. I did like the form of one of Seurat’s girls and I thought the use of rock would give a similar dotty effect( no colour though) I had planned to do two different girls ( suggested by two different paintings) having a conversation and of course with two they can actually interact and create new forms every time you move them.

. I often react to the various bits of metal I am given as part of my recycling efforts and just react to possibilities. This is the case with the spoon in this piece…it was a scale to suit one of my small characters and we all remember stories from childhood where the giant was going to eat someone. As I am sometimes seen as a giant perhaps that lurked in my subconscious and delivered this idea. I am also from an age where girls were referred to by all sorts of words( usually sexist) so the title seemed appropriate in a fun sort of way.

This is a development and combination of a number of my working methods. I wanted to do a ball form again and I did a sketch showing a core surrounded by junk with my characters on the surface. I used the colours green and blue to reflect the earth and give a positive feel to it. My searchers are both looking for a place to stop and looking for each other. They are on opposite sides of the globe( as are we from the other continents) but their concerns are the same. In this case the “junk” is contained but I must admit to feeling the junk of life is getting in the way of truth and an understanding of what is important. I like to think we all are looking for a solution.

I guess this is a bit of a development of the bird idea in that my character is using a quill( that’s what it is supposed to be!) The quill is big as the story is so important but as yet it is unfinished. I guess we all anticipate where it is heading and the effort made to complete it hopefully will match the result it achieves.