VARPORIUM CENTRAL

last one

2007-02-26T03:36:00.000-08:00

....there will be no more

sick of 'em....time to move on.......

watercolours perhaps? or maybe I should just raise puppies......

I didn't make these

2006-07-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

but wish I had. Should be able to tell you who did, but I lost my notes. They can be seen at the Mornington Peninsula gallery and Joshua McLelland gallery. The top pic of the ceramic piece is by the British sculptor Tony Cragg and can be seen somewhere in Britain.

Opuntia

2006-04-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

.....or prickly pear....eitherway it can get a bit overbearing so to contain the growth and get a bit of interest going I hack bits out of it. Mind those prickles though.....absolute mongrels and near invisible. See more here

Autumn

2006-04-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

Autumn is good....spent the day working in this garden I created at Gembrook and it was .....good! You can see more pics here

shed roof

2006-04-02T03:18:00.000-07:00

this is a view of a ferro cement and copper pipe roof I made for a shed. See more here

Torso

2006-03-30T03:57:00.000-08:00

or a silly looking startled martian circa 1956....more here

Anemone style

2006-03-27T03:13:00.000-08:00

Or is it more sea urchinish? see more here

old crozier

2006-03-27T03:08:00.000-08:00

An unfinished bronze. See more of her here

Gembrook garden

2006-03-27T02:57:00.000-08:00

I lived here and made the garden from working at Cloudehill. The shed has a ferro cement and timber roof with copper lights and crappola galore. You can see more here.

Cloudehill Gardens

2006-03-27T02:18:00.000-08:00

I worked here as a gardener for a while. Stunning place and represents one of the best examples of the gardner's art in this country. To see the perennial borders at their best on a clear morning after rain with the mist rising and melting is nothing short of miraculous.

It was a privilege to work, learn and be able to contribute something to this extraordinary place. A credit to the owners Jeremy Francis and Val Campbell-Weyms(?). More info here.

Fountains

2006-03-13T03:54:00.000-08:00

These are my new big things. Heavy too! Had my usual vague botanical and marine inspirations behind the forms, but I'm consciously trying to move away from that now and looking at more architectural motifs. Spirograph patterns will be apparent in some of the ones on the drawing board now so hopefully they will make an appearance around spring. Made from old roofing slate and a waterproof cement mortar they are very demanding, but given my predilection for torture they suit in a self flagellating kind of way. This one took over four weeks. Shame they take so long to make, but I can't see any way around improving on the time factor. Great maxim used by stonemasons is "good stonework takes time". Another thing I like about them is they way they change colour when wet. You can see more here .

2006-03-13T03:30:00.000-08:00

Before anyone gets all cats bum over the overt sexual imagery in these I 've got to say you've got it all wrong! The primary drive in these ceramics is in the tradition of pre-colombian art. As we all know that is all about fertility and not the kind of flip gratuitous bump and grind crap we are currently all inundated with. If you do get a bit chubby over these then you can sod off!

I used to work as a technician at a TAFE college in the Art and Design department. Part of my duties included looking after the kilns in Ceramics. Haven't got access to a kiln of late so these are about ten years old, but more will come after I get this current obsession with slate fountains out of the way. More pics can be seen here

Bronze

2006-03-13T03:11:00.000-08:00

Ah yes! Made these a while ago and they belong to my old default setting which was a bit gothic. Not that I was ever a Goth, but somehow everything I made back then in my drinking years had dark botanical overtones. Sort of thing that Joseph Banks might have dreamt of when he was laid low with malarial fevers. The expense is in the time employed in foundries and the absurdly high price of bronze. I could do new brozes a lot cheaper I'm told now if I make the wax mould here then send it off to Thailand for casting. Love to be given the oppportunity to do just that. More pics can be seen here.

Garden Furniture

2006-03-13T02:48:00.000-08:00

This is a seat that I make. Can be any size you want and is made from recycled bridging timbers - ironbark, yellowbox, redgum, jarrah etc. for those of you who would like to make your own - AVOID CREOSOTE IMPREGNATED TIMBER!!!! Dreadful stuff and I still cringe when I think of how horrible creosote can be. The stains, stench and carcinogenic qualities are best avoided.....The one pictured is from ironbark that had a former life as a part of St.Kilda pier. Price delivered and installed is $360. The timber itself is expensive and it's all laboriously hand tooled (note the sliding tenon join) and oiled. More can be seen on my Garden Furniture page here.