Exhibits,
Wanda Gillespie The Sculpture of Flying Dreams
Opening: 22 November, 6-8pm Dates: 22 November-10 Devember 2005Australasian Contemporary artist; based between Melbourne, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand.
Wanda Gillespie’s mystical sculptures and photographed actions seek to transcend the every day. By using both traditional and contemporary craft techniques she attempts to challenge historical ideas of the artefact. Gillespie often develops written pieces supporting her installations, researching and referencing real historical events, creating slippages between real and imagined. The sculptures then become artefacts, validating the existence of her invented cultures.
The created artefacts are often claimed to be tools in spiritual/religious practice. Practical objects such as lawnmowers and scissor lifts take on new forms, uses and meaning. As a result of residencies in Indonesia, many of these early finely detailed wood sculptures were produced in collaboration with woodcarvers in Java and Bali. Over the past 5 years Wanda Gillespie has studied wood carving at the Melbourne Guild for Fine Woodworking under master carver Ronnie Sexton and continued to develop her skill in her studio practice. She has created figurative works in wood and ceramic, continuing her interest in historical narratives.