WORKS ON FIRE 2013 - 2018
I am lucky to live in the Blue Mountains of NSW Australia, west of Sydney surrounded by national park. Bushfire is one of the risks we all take living in this area. Fires are fairly regular but are mostly managed and the systems in place work to protect lives and property. In Oct 2013 we had a number of large fires across the mountains. The worst of which took 196 homes in a mere few hours including my home, art studio and business Hepworth Studios I feel fortunate to have mosaic as a form of expression available to me, as it is through my work that I am able to process my experience.
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INCENDERE
2018
Smalti, Slate, Oro, Furnace Slag, Marble on Steel, fibreglass and cement form.
Approx 42cm x 42cm x 18cm
Sculpture Otherwise 2018: Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
SOLD: Private Collection
Smalti, Slate, Oro, Furnace Slag, Marble on Steel, fibreglass and cement form.
Approx 42cm x 42cm x 18cm
Sculpture Otherwise 2018: Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
SOLD: Private Collection
ANASTASIS
The sculptural form is inspired by a slice of a burnt old gum tree. One face suggests the age and majesty of the tree. The other reveals its capacity to regenerate and to flourish after adversity. The smalti tesserae (mosaic glass pieces) have been hand cut and in many cases faceted before being placed into tinted mortar and adjusted to capture the changing effects of light on the form. Anastasis is a representation of the strength and resilience of our native environment.
2017
Smalti, Oro, marble & unglazed ceramic mosaic over fibreglass, steel and cement form.
Approx 65cm x 65cm x 25cm
The Elements, Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens, 2017
Sculpture at Scenic World, 2018
Finalist in the 2018 Waterhouse Natural Science Prize at the South Australian Museum , 2018
Fire Affected, Gallery One88, Katoomba, 2018
Transitions, Hazelhurst Broadhurst Gallery, 2019
Eden Unearthed 2019- 2020
SOLD: Private Collection
Smalti, Oro, marble & unglazed ceramic mosaic over fibreglass, steel and cement form.
Approx 65cm x 65cm x 25cm
The Elements, Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens, 2017
Sculpture at Scenic World, 2018
Finalist in the 2018 Waterhouse Natural Science Prize at the South Australian Museum , 2018
Fire Affected, Gallery One88, Katoomba, 2018
Transitions, Hazelhurst Broadhurst Gallery, 2019
Eden Unearthed 2019- 2020
SOLD: Private Collection
LOST TRIBE
2015
90cm x 120cm
Fire salvaged materials, found objects, plaster casts, vitreous glass, smalti, marble, oro
Finalist 'The Stories We Tell' GoCM Chicago 2016 ,
Finalist Mosaic Arts International San Diego 2016.
First Prize Wall Hanging MAANZ National Exhibition Sydney 2015,
SOLD: Private Collection
90cm x 120cm
Fire salvaged materials, found objects, plaster casts, vitreous glass, smalti, marble, oro
Finalist 'The Stories We Tell' GoCM Chicago 2016 ,
Finalist Mosaic Arts International San Diego 2016.
First Prize Wall Hanging MAANZ National Exhibition Sydney 2015,
SOLD: Private Collection
Family artefacts… we collect these from our tribe as they symbolize precious events, people or stages in our personal histories.
After the firestorm I searched for significant items lost in the rubble of my home and studio. I found burnt precious artefacts and the melted remains of my previous mosaics. I have cast these in plaster to create textural inclusions and arranged these with fire salvaged tesserae to suggest relics of the past lost in chaos and confusion.
‘Lost Tribe’ is a very personal expression that symbolises identity, journey and a sense of place that is somehow lost or broken.
After the firestorm I searched for significant items lost in the rubble of my home and studio. I found burnt precious artefacts and the melted remains of my previous mosaics. I have cast these in plaster to create textural inclusions and arranged these with fire salvaged tesserae to suggest relics of the past lost in chaos and confusion.
‘Lost Tribe’ is a very personal expression that symbolises identity, journey and a sense of place that is somehow lost or broken.
'Caitlin uses the charred remnants as a literal starting point for a metaphorical task of reassembly. The power and bravery of the task struck us both as judges'
Emma Biggs, National Exhibition 2015, Judges Comments, Mosaique Magazine Jan 2016
PHOENIX
2014
20cm x 25cm x 70cm
Smalti Mosaic on Fibreglass and cement form
SOLD: Private Collection
20cm x 25cm x 70cm
Smalti Mosaic on Fibreglass and cement form
SOLD: Private Collection
REGENERATION
In my home in the Blue Mountains I am surrounded by gum trees. In a fire the gum leaves are often the first thing you notice as pieces of black leaf fall quietly from the sky while the fire still burns kilometres away. Likewise they are one of the first signs of recovery when the bright green shoots spring forth from the blackened tree trucks.
This series of works used a quantities of salvaged material that was dug from the remains of my home and studio and scraped off burnt substrates of lost mosaics.
All SOLD: Private Collection
This series of works used a quantities of salvaged material that was dug from the remains of my home and studio and scraped off burnt substrates of lost mosaics.
All SOLD: Private Collection
FIRE SALVAGED MEMORIES
SALVAGED CELLS
After the bushfire I became interested in the process of trauma and how while in a state of trauma, humans animals and vegetation change slightly at a cellular level. In this series I was exploring the process of trauma and recovery both inwardly and reflecting what I witnessed around me in my local environment.
All pieces below have been sold.
All pieces below have been sold.
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