How long have been at TBSSS?
I joined Monday and Tuesday evening classes in October 2020.
Where do you travel from each week?
Woolloomooloo.
What do you do when you’re not sculpting?
Professionally, I am a hairstylist and have been for four decades.
What made you take up sculpting?
As a kid I loved making things, especially working out logical steps to achieve a 3-D structure.
After enrolling for evening classes in sculpture at my local Art Academy in Belgium in 1993, I discovered a brand new world, a world I could no longer leave behind. Ever since I have worked sporadically with different mediums and on different projects. It is only of late that I have grasped why it has always been so important to me: in fact when I mould, sculpt or shape a material, whether it be clay, stone, felt, glass or whatever, I become energetically and emotionally balanced. It gives me the room and the space to feel like me and to be me.
What inspires your sculpture practice?
The process of finding the right balance between negative and positive space, the way light is absorbed or reflected on the materials I choose to use, the manner in which colours and hues interact with those same materials all inspire my sculpture practice. At this stage I seek to push through the boundaries imposed by selected mediums to find my inner voice and develop my very own style. The process itself becomes its own reward and I find satisfaction in a product which, in the end, both reflects my initial concept and simultaneously departs from it, since it never ceases to evolve as I work.
Tell us about what you’re working on currently…
Since I consider every process a learning curve, I’m currently drawing inspiration from Brancusi’s Newborn, admiring and playing with a similarly ovoid shape. Indeed, its deceptive simplicity turns out to be very intricate as both versions appear to be no less than weightless. After nearly 50 hours enjoying the meditative process of sculpting and growing through its every stage, I’m now beginning to achieve some balance in the shape. Thanks to my teacher Christine Crimmins, who has guided me through my mistakes and helped me push past them, simply by showing me alternative ways to approach my subject, I now feel empowered by both my strengths and my weaknesses which I ultimately seek to incorporate in the final piece.
Who are your favourite artists / sculptors?
Constantin Brancusi, Ettore Sottsass, Fabio Viale, Grayson Perry, Cornelia Parker, Iris Van Herpen, Wim Botha
Australian: Juz Kitson, Lindy Lee, Juan Ford
