And where is the line between aesthetics and functionality?
 
For the past few years I’ve been playing with extending Project Reclaim pieces and incorporating lighting through efficient LED lights powered from solar cells.
 
The latest piece is made with a curving branch and the specific placement of solar lit bulbs.  
 
It’s a functioning piece powered solely through its careful position and placement in the sun. It lights up once the cells are covered or when it’s dark. It lets off a warm glow enough to light up its surrounds, so officially it can function as a light, albeit for a short time.
 
But the viewers’ comments have mostly been about the sensuous curve of the branch, the delicate placement of the wicker and the contrast between the wood branch and glass bulbs.
 
So this asks me to consider further the objective of the piece. I want viewers to engage in the beauty of the organic materials and the possibility it could be more.
 
Its functionality was secondary, technically it would need a storage battery to enable the light to be extended into the night for more than an hour.
 
But what the solar lights enable is a different piece to be created. The viewer needs to be patient until the circumstances are right, and it’s ready to perform its light show.
 
So I prefer to think of this piece as one that asks the viewer to consider …what if.

I recently undertook a workshop to make leather and wood safari chair. It has an interesting history from the days of the English empire when the British Army officers identified a need for rugged, sturdy and simple furniture. The ‘Roorkee Chair’ as it was called, named in honour of the Indian Army Corps Engineers located at Roorkee, was lightweight, could be folded up, carried around easily and loaded onto a packhorse.

As I was making this chair it became so obvious that this was an engineering masterpiece, using minimal materials easily available at the time. It required the skill of leatherwork, woodturning, careful measurement, an aesthetic eye and overall attention to detail.

It wasn't until the last few hours as we assembled the multiple wooden and leather pieces that the sheer visual beauty of this chair became apparent. And luckily the piece is comfortable as it shifts to suit our body shape.

Congrats to Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking and teacher Hugh Anderson for a challenging class with a lovely outcome.

From Nature, an annual exhibition from Gasworks Art Park in Port Melbourne. A great initiative that continues to provide emerging and existing artists with an opportunity to exhibit for free to a wide audience. This year I decided to recycle two previous pieces, give them a new life as a combined exhibition and, unusually for me, in an indoor location.

It still resonates with its early inception as a homage to John Keats and his young love Fanny Brawne through a poem he wrote her in 1819 before his death shortly after.

I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’ed but three summer days-Three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.

It's part of a bigger initiative lead by the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) which hosts competitions that aim to  imagine public art installations that double as renewable energy generators, powering local neighborhoods.

This exciting approach invites all of us and particularly participants to imagine a future where public art, design and energy all intersect to enable   sustainable and beautiful infrastructures.  LAGI recognises the powerful role that creativity and inter-disciplines,  play in innovation, and use public art as a vehicle to explore this.

http://landartgenerator.org

Back to Castlemaine and our challenge was to re-imagine a car park and create ideas that could  integrate renewable energy, creative placemaking and community-oriented design. Over the 3 days we explored in groups, individually and in collaborations a number of ideas then presented to the community for consideration and discussion. While the next stage is not funded it is an example of what can happen when we consider the possibility of art and  and sustainable energy.

Working with artist Alex Sanson, the  Hanging Gardens Of Castlemaine, a clever elegant structure was created.  With arced semi transparent cladding providing shade for cars and community events, power generation  through PV technology allowing  light transmission for healthy plant growth and soft lighting from solar lace lamps that hang throughout the structure for pedestrian safety and to enhance the beauty of the space.

As an artist and environmental practitioner I’m particularly interested in the intersection of creativity and science. I find myself more and more, problem solving to test my assumptions about my own practice.

So I've set myself a challenge of creating works that use organic materials, reclaimed materials and approaches that promote renewable energy and /or energy efficient design ideas.

My first attempt is a bedside table lamp piece that uses a palm frond (dropped from a palm at from Albert Park Lake) as a container to hold a LED light reflected by handmade paper.

With sustainability as the thread that links my work, I believe the arts, through all its creative expressions, can act as a powerful facilitator for social change, and in this case, the change about the way we think about waste, energy and aesthetics.

2017 has been a fascinating year in my growth as a sculptor. I went back to school this year, starting with Holmesglen TAFE to learn the fundamentals of wood work, using hand tools and having access to 'rip your arm off' wood machines, the kind we had at Arts School that we were so lucky to have use of largely due to their time saving benefits. 

Once I received my certificates 1 and 2 the only next option at TAFE was to undertake a carpentry apprenticeship. Well that wasn't going to suit so I researched the next steps, from Men's Sheds to woodwork associations, none quite suiting due to culture, timing or location.

Finally I found the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking, a place of patient learning with like minded people all keen to hone their skills.

This school enables me to continue my sculptural practice within a safe and creative environment. The piece below looks deceptively simple, but the angles, design and trickery that goes into a piece like this enabled me to learn so much about the wood itself as well as the machines and hand tools.

I'm really excited about where this can go with 2018 all about exploring LED lighting powered by solar cells , utilising both branches and wood.

A thoroughly enjoyable interview with Zorana Vukamanovic, editor from the international arts magazine, Creativeroom4talk.

Read interview HERE
Commences on page 350
https://issuu.com/creativeroom4talk/docs/creativeroom4talk_nov15