Sculptures 2021

What an exciting year it has been! I've been honing my skills in plasma cutting and TIG welding, which led me to delve into the world of sculpture-making. Luckily, my friends Tracy Ponich and Leanne Booth invited me to participate in their upcoming exhibition, "Eight Hundred Metres and Up", at Everglades House and Garden in Leura. This was just the nudge I needed to showcase my work!

I created three sculptures for the exhibition: Shadowplay, Blue Gum Trilogy, and Evolution.

Shadowplay

I have a sculpture that I absolutely adore. What really draws me in is the unique shape of the design and the use of both weathering steel and stainless steel. Interestingly enough, this sculpture was created by chance. Some of my friends suggested that I reuse the various steel shapes that were left over from previous plasma-cutting projects. They even made a joke about displaying some of the pieces in a bell jar or on a plinth. I took a photo of a bucket filled with the leftover steel pieces and shared it with my friends. As I was tidying up the pieces to return them to my scrap bucket, I noticed some captivating shapes. The more I examined them, the more ideas I came up with until I ultimately arrived at the final design for the sculpture.

Blue Gum Trilogy

This sculpture was inspired by a partially skeletonized Blue Gum leaf I found in my backyard. Since I couldn't decide which leaf I liked best, I created three leaves to represent its transition. I sketched conceptual designs in my visual diary and realized that incorporating different cutting styles and steel types would add more depth to my artwork.

The first leaf, representing the pristine state of the Blue Gum leaf, was made of stainless steel with only line stencil work to depict the leaf veins. The second leaf, representing the decayed state, was made of HW350 (similar to Corten) and had many cut-outs like a skeletonized leaf. The last leaf was a hybrid made of a mix of steel types and cutting styles. The central part was stainless steel, while the edges had the decaying effect of HW350.

This sculpture has been sold to a private collector.

Evolution

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, I decided to teach myself how to weld stainless steel and aluminium using my TIG welder (which also doubles as a plasma cutter.) I started by welding stainless TIG filler rods into triangles, which was tricky due to their thin 1.6mm nature. I soon collected a few pieces and was inspired by my "Shadowplay" piece to attempt to create a spherical shape. However, this proved quite challenging due to the non-tessellating nature of triangles, making it difficult for the pieces to fit together. The sculpture has an apt name, and I'm proud of my progress as I was getting pretty proficient with plasma cutting and TIG welding.

Gum Leaf Trio

I'm so happy with my sculpture! It was my first try, and I think it turned out great. It was supposed to be in the "Eight Hundred Metres and Above" exhibition, but unfortunately, due to the repeated lockdowns, the event had to be postponed. However, someone wanted to buy it, and I was ecstatic to learn that it would be showcased in the reception area of the new Goulburn Base Hospital.