From Thursday 8 May – Sunday 1st June 2025 my new pieces will be in the Imagination II exhibition at Cascade Gallery in Maldon in company with works by Brenda Walsh, Sam Varian, Dean Bowen and John O’Loughlin. Official opening 2PM Saturday 10 May 2025. It looks like a ripper of a show, I’m really looking forward to it!
“Rodney”, bronze, 38cm, edition of 5+1 AP
“Clancy”, bronze, 40cm, edition of 5+1 AP
Before wax, the final look is a bit darker.
Jack #5/8:
New piece, “Magic Prince”. Metal chasing stage.
A few weeks ago I was playing with AI image generation, and ended up writing a parody sci-fi serial around some of the pictures. I made some more images to fit specific scenes, which was rather more difficult, and posted the result as Wigs In Space on Tumblr — perhaps not the best place for it, but I already had an account and the posting format was suitable. I had fun making this thing, but have had enough of AI for now. I enjoyed it more as a toy than a tool, as it seems to have no understanding of 3D space or individual objects. (ETA: I now know that it has no understanding of anything at all; it doesn’t have concepts and therefore can’t manipulate them, i.e. it doesn’t think. Its intelligence is artificial as in imitation, like plastic food. Given that, AI’s illusion is remarkable and its limitations unsurprising.)
Anyway, here’s Wigs In Space episode 1, with links to the other episodes.
This fellow was originally playing a flute, and as he neared completion I put him away in a box, largely I think because I could see the process of producing an edition being fraught with difficulty. When I took him out recently to work on him again, I realised that not only would he be easier to cast if he was playing (hare) bells, he would look better too. I now need to alter his arms and hands, but it will be worth it. I’ve also been fiddling with an arrangement of cravat and shirt ruffles, which might end up getting moulded separately and stuck on in the wax stage.
I should either shut this site down or use it, shouldn’t I? This is the 5th Jack in an edition of 8. He has to be cast in two pieces and welded at the knees, then I grind the welds off and carve texture back into the metal using a die grinder and a dental tool. I’ve given him a test patina to make sure I’m happy with the restored texture. He’s now ready for sandblasting and a proper patina.
Cascade Gallery in Maldon has a new exhibition with the theme of Gothic to Sublime, in parallel with the Goldfields Gothic – Festival of Dark Ideas (1-3 July 2022 in Maldon). The exhibition is open until 31 July, and I have a few pieces in it, in the company of works by Philomena Carroll, Hilary Finch, Terry Taylor, Sharon West, Jill Kempson, Liz Sullivan, Stephen Tester, John O’Loughlin, Julie Andrews, Lydia Poljak, Joel Sorensen, Zoe Amor and Jeff Gardner.
Cascade is located in a historic church at 1A Fountain Street, Maldon, Victoria. Opening hours are Thurs – Sun from 10 am to 5 pm. Ph. 0408 844 152
During the festival the gallery is also holding “Drawing the Gothic” workshops for adults and under 16s, which can be booked through the Goldfields Gothic program.
One of my sculptures in the exhibition, The Silent One & The Noisy One:
