Botanical Sculpture
Something that is hard to convey about my sculptural work is that its greatest value is in the process of making it. That the collection of materials and their assemblage is quite a restorative game of trust, curiosity and exploration. What you might not see from looking at a piece, is the thrill I feel collecting all these botanical treasures, driving with a car full of beautiful sticks, poking around in a trailer of green waste, whipping out secateurs at a moments notice and then respectfully organising the cacophony of leaves and branches on the workshop floor. Rarely do I even use flowers in the sculptures, making it hard to think of these arrangements as floristry. Rather I focus on the form and texture when I am gathering materials and most importantly - how the plant dries. The value of this process was a realisation that even I overlooked for some time. When people asked me about the work, what is it? Why do I do it? It’s greatest fundamental value actually comes down to practicing allowing choices to unfold on their own without over thinking. As someone who’s known for overthinking things, perhaps it's one department in my life where I can actually allow trust to govern the outcome, or that I consciously allow this to be the process. This must be an extension of Rene Bahloo’s weaving ethos that I picked up in attending her workshops. You learn that the basket in fact decides it own shape and that the weaving process is very intuitive and nurturing rather than controlling.
Secondary to this is highlighting that every garden or neglected curb planting holds some beautiful forms worth collecting and displaying. While friends will laugh at me inspecting different dead branches, each curve or collection of dried foliage has sculptural beauty. And that a lot of neighbourhood plants in fact dry beautifully. My favourite ‘Banksia robur’ starts off a glossy dark green and slowly their tough serrated leaf changes to a rich golden brown. Observing and collecting botanical treasures (responsibly) is always something my eyes watch out for and is always something that makes my heart sing.
World Environment Day on the Sunshine Coast went from an all day festival to a live video event due to Covid restrictions in 2020, however Rose reassembled coastal botanicals to brighten the film set.
