My work is materials and process-driven. I have a persistent interest in our apprehension of, and engagement with, the material 'stuff' of the world. I prefer to work by deferring to the limitations and constraints presented by the materials, and by deferring to the processes of the forms themselves. By this, I mean I take my time to learn the logic of the materials, to find how they can be brought together with a kind of ease. It is important to me that I work with, rather than impose on. So what seems at first glance rigid and controlled, is actually born of yearning for a kind of surrender—to materials, processes, and constraints.
Once I have found a form and process that highlights the materials' purity and integrity, the making is usually rhythmic and repetitive—often laborious, but largely uncomplicated. In Cover, glass beads are draped and handwoven over a millinery block that belonged to my grandmother. The radial pattern and rhythm of the beading follow the hat block’s form. The beaded rows increase and decrease, taken around and under. Block, beads and thread are bound together, now belonging to one another.
timber milliner's block, glass beads, thread
16 x 17 x 21 cm
Finalist
Judges of the 2019 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Professor Ross Harley (Dean of the Faculty of Art & Design and UNSW Chair of Arts and Culture), Louise Herron AM (Chief Executive Officer, Sydney Opera House) and Tim Ross (Design and Architecture advocate, Broadcaster, Author and Comedian).
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