104 Wallace St, Braidwood, New South Wales
Opening event: Friday 5th June 6pm
A Walk in the Forest. Some of my most treasured childhood memories are of walking, alone, through the paddocks of my parents’ property, usually chasing cows or sheep. Walking is a great way to suck up the surrounding landscape. Nowadays it’s often near the evening, in the Monga forest, the setting sun lighting up the trunks of the white gums, a warm glow over the tree tops and through the forest. Straggles of eucalyptus in the fading sunlight. I walk the rough road, hear the sounds, smell the scents, absorb the colours. Greens of all shades, just bathing in it, like going into the sea and letting the waves break over you.“A walk in the forest” is a collection of works seeking the illusive essence of this forest. It’s a visual record of the forest’s invisible energies, evoking pulsing rhythms. Aiming for work that draws a visual poetry, to evoke rather than depict characteristic landscape elements.
The landscape is often the backdrop to my thoughts. The clay forms, often a fairly traditional shape (and sometimes voluptuous), become the canvas and the brushwork is what imparts life to these forms. Much of my practice is intuitive and I literally feel my way with a certain freedom and playfulness. The forms embody a strong handbuilt quality.The walks in the forest provide such contentment and acceptance whilst acknowledging conflicting emotions that are, like the forest itself and the pots, such a balancing act .
Image: Earthenware with underglaze painting, Sun Setting, Gwenna Green. Image courtesy of the artist
