Charisse Gregory
Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts
EARTHWORKS
Sculpture
Clay ceramics, wood, metal, and rope
The concept for my body of work stemmed from the Australian bushfires and their effect on nature. I find interest in the natural world and how industrialised societies destroy their environment. My work represents the effect human structures have on their environment, where the natural surroundings are pillaged by the development of industrial and domestic architecture. The ceramic pots create the organic shapes and textures of the natural environment while the wood, rope and metal components represent industrial structures. My work comments on the effect of modern society’s inventions and how they mould and reshape the earth.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the artist Anna Whitehouse.
Marker's Commentary
Earthworks is inspired by the often-terse relationship of the natural environment and the industrialised world. Comprising of found objects which act as cradles or plinths that carefully support, grip and clench the ceramic forms, inspired by nature and the earth. Closer inspection reveals that the found objects also suppress the beauty of the natural shapes, textures and surfaces of the oxidised clay forms. These clamping, hanging actions along with the piercing rod encapsulates the tension played out in contemporary societies relationship with the ongoing impact of industrialisation and urbanisation across the once natural environment. This telling body of work, in part bold yet delicate in the midst of the awkward and inelegant sculptural embrace is a testament to the actions and state of today’s society.