Care | selected group exhibition at CraftACT

From Oct to Dec 2020, a small selection of my sparrows will be on show at CraftACT: Design + Craft Centre in Canberra, Australia.

In 2015, I investigated the disappearance of sparrows in my hometown Canberra. Five years on and after the bushfires raged across Australia and the Sapphire Coast in New South Wales, I felt compelled to revisit this series. Sitting in my studio, I refined the patterns and pierced more holes to emphasize the fragility of birdlife consumed at a rate unseen before. Now, more than ever, we need to care for our wildlife. This poem is for them.

shape the clay / small bird form

make the mould / a nest for the body

pour two slips / create one whole

slow the drying process / Nana’s hankie shelters the bird

pencil on design / bring it to life with marking

pierce with care / patterns reveals you

two firings / fully formed now

sanding and polishing, completed / light and fragile sparrow