"Fade"

I've had this piece in the back of my mind for quite some time.....years, in fact, but I never quite found the time to realize it.

This is the initial watercolour sketch.....three frogs on a log with the colour successively fading from them.

I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to make this piece (finally!) for my exhibition in August, so I knuckled down and got it done in the past week. First I had to make three fabric frogs:

Since these are quite small, this is tricky and intricate fabric piecing, and they all needed to be in slightly different poses.

The frogs were then arranged side-by-side on a piece of wood that I have had set aside for this project for ages..........I painted the fade into the wood as well.

Of course, it is fairly obvious that this piece has a strong environmental message: frogs and amphibians generally, are "canary-in-the-mine" species.....their sudden decline and disappearance from many habitats indicate that all is not well with the ecology of these habitats. Presence of frogs is a strong indication of environmental health.

Fabulous News!

I am proud to announce that my 'Redivivus' entry won the Inaugural Bricolage Design Prize announced on June 5th (World Environment Day). I was thrilled with the win, and was able to share my elation with all four of my grandchildren who were there with me, along with Anna, my son's gorgeous partner. The information about the dolls I made as my entry can be found elsewhere on this page.

My grandchildren, Rhiannon, Leila, Laurence and Xavier pose with the dolls

Lisa Singh has just presented me with the award.

New piece completed

This new piece of sculpture was finished literally hours ago. It is a bit disturbing, but that was my intention. I call this piece "Why?"

"Revenge of Gaia" - finished!

This piece is a distillation of some of the feelings of anger I have at the way we as a species are treating our planet. I'm also hinting at what I believe are some of the inevitable consequences of our actions/lack of action.

Mixed media, clay, cloth, wood, resin, paint.

About the "Redivivus Dolls"

These "Redivivus" dolls were made as an entry into the Tasmanian Government Environment Department's BRICOLAGE DESIGN PRIZE where the challenge was thrown out to artists and craft workers to design and make products from waste. These dolls are made from about 90% recycled materials, mostly free for the taking. The heads and lower limbs are made from reconstituted very fine sawdust; the bodies and upper limbs from recycled flour-bag calico, and the filling from wool waste from a blanket factory.

My challenge was to be able to make the dolls in editions, which I achieved through the use of silicone moulds, which would theoretically enable me to make hundreds of dolls that are similar.

I am very happy with the overall look of the dolls. They are designed to be play dolls, and I think they fit the brief pretty well. As well as making the prototypes, I had to make a written submission providing quite a bit of background information, which I worked on all last summer. I was able to do a thoroughly-researched job of it, as I had plenty of time.