Nature Series
During the Melbourne lockdowns I had access to a small garden surrounded by high walls, a small patch of paradise within a suddenly still and silent city. It was fecund and abundant, with green tendrils growing wild; a space to nurture and be nurtured. I began to sit and observe the garden for hours, watching and listening.
I was soon aware of the many and varied activity and life going on within the walled paradise. The marsupial mouse that would list and sway, drunk on the fermenting calamondon fruit that littered the ground. The gecko that would move swiftly and decisively, freezing mid-climb to watch me. The snails, slugs, aphids and earwigs that would relentlessly munch through the undergrowth, feasting with orgiastic delight. The butterflies that would visit during the day, floating carefree from leaf to frond, resting in splendour, replaced in the evening by gentle and friendly moths.
I also began to take note of the birds that would come, day after day to visit the little space. I found myself fascinated by their ease and grace. I observed which trees and plants they preferred, how they moved about and listening to their myriad songs and calls. The pigeon couple making their home high in the clustered branches of the unruly calamondon. The silver eye, silently jumping and rollicking between the sparse branches of the lemon tree. The family of blackbirds that lived in the neighbours chimney, clamouring and chattering incessantly while combing the dirt for bugs and worms. The beautiful Eastern Spinebill which would visit every afternoon, announcing itself with its lilting and cherubic song; hovering mid-air, it would drink nectar from the rubicund flowers of the burgeoning pineapple sage canes.
These moments provided me a comfort and joy that could never be manufactured, hoarded, held or kept. Experiential moments of profound belonging, that required no result or expectation. In those timeless moments I felt I was the universe experiencing itself. I wanted to honour them and the space they shared with me – the blessed liminal moments.
I want to celebrate the beauty and peace I found in those surrounds, and imagine a reality where those natural scenes are all that are necessary. I realised that the feeling I came to love, was also the space I inhabit when I am creating. It is a simplicity of being, the hushed and quiet reverence of grounded solitude. A gentle brain.
Drawing inspiration from folk art, my work is a personal expression, meditations on fleeting moments and memories, both real and imagined. The colours, shapes and textures of those vistas: flowers, petals, leaves, flowing water, gentle wind, rustling foliage. These pieces represent that time and feeling. Simple vessel forms which become ancillary to the decorative and sculptural elements, developed through additive and subtractive methods in an attempt to distil those scenes into form.
My goal was to convey some of the magic, majesty and reverence I felt bearing witness to this theatre of life; my untethering from the demands of a constructed and moribund reality.
I was soon aware of the many and varied activity and life going on within the walled paradise. The marsupial mouse that would list and sway, drunk on the fermenting calamondon fruit that littered the ground. The gecko that would move swiftly and decisively, freezing mid-climb to watch me. The snails, slugs, aphids and earwigs that would relentlessly munch through the undergrowth, feasting with orgiastic delight. The butterflies that would visit during the day, floating carefree from leaf to frond, resting in splendour, replaced in the evening by gentle and friendly moths.
I also began to take note of the birds that would come, day after day to visit the little space. I found myself fascinated by their ease and grace. I observed which trees and plants they preferred, how they moved about and listening to their myriad songs and calls. The pigeon couple making their home high in the clustered branches of the unruly calamondon. The silver eye, silently jumping and rollicking between the sparse branches of the lemon tree. The family of blackbirds that lived in the neighbours chimney, clamouring and chattering incessantly while combing the dirt for bugs and worms. The beautiful Eastern Spinebill which would visit every afternoon, announcing itself with its lilting and cherubic song; hovering mid-air, it would drink nectar from the rubicund flowers of the burgeoning pineapple sage canes.
These moments provided me a comfort and joy that could never be manufactured, hoarded, held or kept. Experiential moments of profound belonging, that required no result or expectation. In those timeless moments I felt I was the universe experiencing itself. I wanted to honour them and the space they shared with me – the blessed liminal moments.
I want to celebrate the beauty and peace I found in those surrounds, and imagine a reality where those natural scenes are all that are necessary. I realised that the feeling I came to love, was also the space I inhabit when I am creating. It is a simplicity of being, the hushed and quiet reverence of grounded solitude. A gentle brain.
Drawing inspiration from folk art, my work is a personal expression, meditations on fleeting moments and memories, both real and imagined. The colours, shapes and textures of those vistas: flowers, petals, leaves, flowing water, gentle wind, rustling foliage. These pieces represent that time and feeling. Simple vessel forms which become ancillary to the decorative and sculptural elements, developed through additive and subtractive methods in an attempt to distil those scenes into form.
My goal was to convey some of the magic, majesty and reverence I felt bearing witness to this theatre of life; my untethering from the demands of a constructed and moribund reality.