Ceramic Sculpture
My inspiration for this sculpture originated from Matisse’s cut-out works in his last decade while he was working and living in the South of France. A rich metaphor for my sculpture is the “little garden” within and on the outer walls of the clay studio with intertwined plants and roses. A pale blue dove (cut-out) flying through as though in visitation, the french shutters revealing blue skies, the white balcony, and the lady with a rose in her hair holding a paintbrush, these metaphors are an expression of the soul of artist with all the valuable tools of her trade; her imagination, easel, chair, paint-can and larger than life brushes contained within a space that is open to the heavens.
Within the heart of Matisse’s cut-out practice is the pinning’s ability to be undone – unpinned - which reveals a tentativeness and contingency, flux and change. The revolutionary activities of the studio as an intensely vibrant living organism are important themes, building transformative spaces that provide fertile ground for further explorations that expand the experience of painting beyond the limits of the frame. Here I have sought to create in essence a vessel with poetic resonance, a space for storytelling and an exchange of energies, and an environment inviting the viewer into the space.
The chosen colours are meant to symbolise the intensity of light in the south of France. The peeling paint on the cornflower blue cut-outs on a white wall is intentional as it signifies the passing of time.