‘THE FALLEN BRANCHES OF TAI WAIRUA’
Over my exploration I have approached my work from a specific standpoint: VALUE
How we value woodwork, finely crafted work whether this be carvings, precise straight lines, the use of processed wood, or the measurement that the material may hold over the worker.
It is clear to me, an unsaid statement; Finely crafted woodwork holds greater value than provisional knocked together wood.
My use of both processed and unprocessed wood sought to explore and challenge how we approach this value system. Human time and skill juxtaposed by natures acts of woodwork, consisting of Natures time and natures forms.
Working with fallen branches and sticks I noticed my proximity to the material fathered an intrigue from my behalf. The curves, textures, imperfections, and the active place that the sticks play in a wider context caught my attention. I began to consider the role of decomposition within the ecosystem. Some branches held their own ecosystems with critters living in the wood adding to the encounter of nature’s woodwork. The value that the fallen sticks held grew in my eyes through each sculpture I made.
Pick Up Sticks
Pick Up Sticks highlights the structural value sticks can hold alongside processed wood. I brought this contrast out of an initial sculpture on the cliff Tai Wairau. This exercise outside of the studio environment drew on the concept of a Bivouac; a shelter built from sticks.
From here I brought the idea forward into the studio context, introducing processed wood to the stick structure. The final work had no joinery between the two worlds, processed and raw wood. Rather, the point of contact between the two was enough to hold ideas of structure. The physical tension drew out the tension of value between the two mediums used. The linseed oil is the third ingredient to the build on the taut nature of the sculpture. The oiled finish of the processed wood creates a metaphorical barrier, as though to devalue the sticks.
Stack The Sticks
Expanding on the ideas of value from Pick Up Sticks, I’ve used ‘structure’ to challenge the value of sticks. Natures wood craft paired with a beautifully crafted, sanded and oil piece of processed of wood. Each piece in the stack of sticks performed an equal role in the structure.
Admits all the stick was a singular finely finished piece of cubic wood. This tension between the two approaches to wood.
Store The Sticks
Reflecting on my art works to this point I recognized a disconnect. The finally crafted and the raw unprocessed wood jarred against each other. The tension has been responded too. I must expand my response. How could I use both materials in a joint space? Could the juxtaposed medium hold each other in relationship? How could one support the others measure of value?
This questioning led to a sculpture that brings the raw sticks through a crafted process.
I worked on a selection of sticks, sanding away the rugged exterior. Exposing a clean surface. It was this transformative experience that continued to challenge value. I had revealed the potential in a fallen branch by taking away the exterior. From this exploration into the finely crafted potential element that sticks hold, and an interest in structure to place value over material, I used a slot joint technique. Slotting the raw wood into the processed wood. The oiled base held the sticks upright.
I am interested whether the processed wood hold greater value over the sticks by holding them upright. Could it be that the value of the sticks it greater as though the sticks are being displayed by the processed wood?
Glorify The Sticks
The tension between the finely crafted and the raw unprocessed woodwork has been ultimately exhausted. Harmony is what this conversation requires, where the discovery has led.
Reflecting over the step forward in Store The Sticks, there is an element of organization. Referred to by audience as a stick holder- and umbrella holder. I wanted to elaborate on the ideas drawn for the sculpture. How could finely crafted wood carry the greater value that I personally place on raw wood? I am drawn to the wood ‘Showcase.’
I performed an organization expanded drawing at the beach I had been collecting sticks from.
I collected a range of stick all differing in length. I stood up the sticks in the sand, placing them in height order. This exercise performed an external view of the different ways one can categorize wood. Relating to value, the expanded drawing posed a question; do the longer sticks have greater value over the shorter ones?
Resolving the interest in value, structure, tension, harmony, and organization I have created a sculpture that glorifies the sticks. A bespoke shelving structure. Each shelf made to hold a specific stick. The processed wood structure holds tension as all the pieces old each other together to have it structurally sound. The sticks have been gently placed in the shelves; balancing lose within the structure. Five sticks have been strung up on hooks. These sticks each have drill holes in them. This acts as a gateway between the wooden structure and the show piece sticks.
BRITNEY SAYWELL 