- Repurposed cloth-bound book with sculpted paper-pulp & acrylic paint
- 24cm x 30cm
For a number of years and during my PhD “Constructing the Eclectic Bibliothèque”, I have been working with Artists’ Books, Altered books and recycled materials. This includes repurposing old cloth bound books and recycling paper to form paper pulp for sculpting. The book is treated as a canvas and the paper pulp as a textural surface. They may be best described as Artists Objects and exist at the intersection of painting and a bas-relief sculpture.
I have repurposed the novel “Pastoral” by Nevil Shute also the writer of the books “On the Beach” and “A Town Like Alice”. The re-worked book is both a real and imagined representation of the Arcadian landscapes that surrounds the townships and vineyards in the Hunter Valley.
Over one summer in my youth, I was a volunteer cook for some of the viticultural workers who were staying on one of the Vineyards. My work “Pastoral” depicts a backdrop of the Broke Back Range which is surrounded by bucolic farmlands, paddocks and vines. My artwork brings up fond, nostalgic memories of this time for me. While the artwork describes a pastoral landscape pictorially, it also acknowledges the complementary meaning of the word ‘pastoral’ as receiving a kind of spiritual care and guidance.