Kath Fries - beeswax on paper experiments

I've been working with beeswax as a sculptural material over the past few years, fascinated by the texture, viscosity, history and metaphorical potential of this material. Recently I've been exploring different ways of applying beeswax to sheets of paper by heating, cooling and marking it to extend the translucency and malleability of this material. I plan to expand my experiments into large installation pieces for our upcoming exhibition. But in the meantime, I thought I'd share a few photos of my studio experiments. 

Kath Fries

www.kathfries.com

Kath Fries, Beeswax on paper - translucency, studio experiment 2015

Kath Fries, Beeswax on paper - peel, studio experiment 2015

Kath Fries, Beeswax on paper - cracks, studio experiment 2015

Kath Fries, Beeswax on wall and tree branch,  studio experiment 2015

Gillian Lavery - Ideas behind my spiral drawings

I thought that it would be interesting to share some of the starting points and ideas behind the spiral drawings in this exhibition.

My interest in the spiral began a few years ago when I was researching Australian Aboriginal basketry techniques. I was particularly interested inspired by the coiled basketry that was made by the women from Gapuwiyak in the exhibition “Women With Clever Hands.”

I began drawing these woven objects in an attempt to understand them and think about them through drawing. It occurred to me that I was drawing them as if I was weaving them rather than trying to depict them.

Joyce Milpuna Bidingal, Coiled basket (detail) dyed and woven pandanus

I then began a stitching process based on the drawings that I had been making. I was interested in the feedback loop of making and drawing. I wanted to explore what happened when you switch from one mark making process to another, examine what elements of material and line arise.

Since then I have been using the spiral to explore meditative mark making processes and this line of enquiry led to the creation of an animation of the stitching process.

I undertook a yearlong stitching project and wanted to find a way to share the process of making with the viewer knowing that ultimately they would only be seeing the result of the project. It was an attempt to invite the viewer into the process of building an artwork stitch by stitch. I wanted to invite them into a contemplative space that the making gave to me.

pranayama, 2014, cotton thread & silk.  Image by Miho Watanabe.

 The two spiral drawings I’m working on for this exhibition were created during recent overseas residencies. One took place in Japan, in 40°C heat and 100% humidity, and the other in Iceland in -9°C with accompanying wind and snow. The two places diametrically opposed in climate and many other aspects and performing the same repetitive actions in both their differences became more apparent. As my fingers froze and I kept dropping the remote for the camera when I was filming in Iceland I could not help but reflect upon the sweat that was pouring down my back when stitching the spiral three months earlier in Japan.

Children's paper lanterns at a festival in Onishi, Japan.

 

A 10 am sunrise in Blondous, Iceland.

By Gillian Lavery

 www.gillianlavery.com

Tracing Materiality

Tracing Materiality is a project and exhibition by Sydney based artists Gillian Lavery, Renuka Fernando and Kath Fries. Exploring expanded drawing practices, moving beyond drawing as representation, to focus on materiality and mark making. The artists’ process-based approaches are open-ended, improvisational and unfolding, taking place live within the gallery over the exhibition’s duration to open up the inner workings of process-based drawing practice to the audience.

This project will emphasise the drawing process valued above the end result by engaging meditative but not premeditated forms, transforming the gallery into an active environment where thinking, making and play are accessible to the viewer. Working throughout the gallery space, utilizing the various surfaces of the walls, floors, windows and corners, the artists’ work will develop and evolve resulting in a survey of different mark making approaches of expanded drawing and process-based practices.

Gillian Lavery will be working on a performative wall drawing informed by textile practice, exploring the space between a pencil line and a line of thread and the relationship between drawing and textiles in their approach to materiality and mark making.
www.gillianlavery.com

Renuka Fernando will be making large-scale drawings installations considering the drawing as acts of connection to the material world. Actively seeking the threat of the unexpected she makes work larger than her body allowing accident and happenstance to play a leading role.
www.renukafernando.com

Kath Fries will explore tactile and sensory engagements with materiality, and how this embodied process can conjure attentiveness to present time, by working on beeswax and paper, with scratching translucencies, changing natural light and shadows, and the beeswax’s aromatic presence.
www.kathfries.com

Tracing Materiality: 5 March - 20 March 2016

Artists: Gillian Lavery, Renuka Fernando & Kath Fries

Chrissie Cotter Gallery: Pidcock Street, Camperdown NSW

Opening event: Sun 6 March 6-8pm

MOST continuous drawing: Sat 5 & Sun 6 March 2-4pm

Finissage & discussion panel: Sun 20 March 2-4pm

Gallery open: Thurs to Sun 11am - 4pm