ArtFromRecycledMaterials

Ian Jowett: 'Fly', metal

Ian Holton: 'Cedar Trunk', Recycled wood

Lynn Ashton: 'The Ark', Found wood

Images from the Art from Recycled Materials Exhibition
plus, below, opening remarks delivered by me 24 - 10 - 2009
exhibition runs from 25th Oct. - 1st Nov. 2009
Creswick Victoria, at various venues

Each work in this exhibition is like a book, written in two chapters. The first chapter is the story of what the work used to be and the second chapter the story of what it has become.

You can start to read these works by realizing that the beauty of this kind of art-making lies in the magic act of transforming the material. An act of love, involving both the artists’ hands and heart.

You can start to read these works by realizing that the beauty of this kind of art- making lies in the fact that we can enter and enjoy the process on any level. That recyclable material, as we can see all around us, is capable of true magic.

Each of the works in this exhibition started from what most makers would call a disadvantage, the artists brief, asked to use recyclable materials and useless stuff, fit mostly for landfill. In all cases, this turned out to be the defining feature of the work.

Thanks to the nature of art there are no rules, and thus it was easy to start from the premise of ‘anything is possible’.

In addition, the works in this exhibition also explore the makers’ skills. Wonderful skills. Most works seemed to have arrived at the understanding that the magic of the artist’s work does not lie in the expense of the tools and materials, but in the knowledge of the hands. And that, in the main, it is the limitations of the materials that have created the art.

Recycled materials, as we can see, do not necessarily mean less sophisticated work. Most of the true magic, of that on display, came from working with that which was available, and finding that inspiring and invigorating. This gives the work its potency, while at the same time, allowing the audience a whole new point of view into the process of art making.

This exhibition contains many stories but, besides the story of re-cycling, it is basically just the one story. The story about the true wonder of everything.

Fallen Stars

This morning I found the stars
which had fallen from the sky overnight
in the field next door

Reality is the invention of unimaginative people

Trees reassembled

Two trees have been chopped down, and left, on the roadside
I reassembled them

It is never too late to have a happy childhood

Public Sculpture

Recently I installed a public sculpture
at the entrance to the Hepburn Springs bathhouse. It consisted of a bronze chair
and six story boulders

In this work I have attempted to acknowledge the history of the park
And those who are responsible for its creation
And continued maintenance

Honour the playfulness of spirit that lets everyone win

Public Artwork for Melbourne

'Architectural Fragment'

My first public art commission

for the city of Melbourne

Swanston Street, Melbourne, Australia.

Installed 1992

'INNER LANDSCAPE' EXHIBITION NOW ON

double click on image Inner Landscapes Exhibition July 23 till August 16 Gallery 101, 101 Collins Street Melbourne ph: 61 3 9654 6886