Nature is stealthily creeping back into the abandoned consumer domains of Gosford CBD, in the small and easily overlooked forms of insects and weeds. A recurring theme in my work is our human relationships with nature and aversion to things that are naturally difficult for us to control. A colony of Saunders Case Moths have taken up residence on the abandoned Town Centre shopping arcade, around the corner from our artists-studio/workshop/empty-shop. These fascinating little creatures and their intricate chrysalises have promoted me to explore incubation and germination in my sculptures and installations for the Gosford Artists Residency.
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| Kath Fries, Chrysalises - work in progress, 2012 single use light bulbs, seed pods and stockings. |
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| Kath Fries, Chrysalises - work in progress, 2012 single use light bulb, seed pod and stocking. |
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| Kath Fries, Chrysalises - work in progress, 2012 single use light bulb, seed pod and stocking. |
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| Kath Fries, Chrysalises - work in progress, 2012 single use light bulb, seed pod and stocking. |
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| Kath Fries, Chrysalises - work in progress, 2012 single use light bulb, seed pod and stocking. |
One of the other artists with whom I'm sharing the residency-studio/performance-lab/ workshop/empty-shop, Wendy Able Campbell, is printing postcards. She's using small, single use, yellow light bulbs in her exposure/printing press and kindly donating them post exposure to my "found object" collection. The fragile cracked globes look like magical fragile speckled eggs. I'm gently suspended them within seed pods, twigs and laddered nylon stockings to form incubating sacks.
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| Kath Fries, Imperial Arcade Studio - single use light bulbs - found objects, Gosford 19 June 2012 |
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| Kath Fries, Imperial Arcade Studio - work in progress, Gosford 20 June 2012 |
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| Kath Fries, Chrysalises - work in progress, 2012 tree branches, fungi and stocking. |
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| Kath Fries, Chrysalises - work in progress, 2012 tree branches, fungi and stocking. |
Amongst the found objects and natural materials that I've been collecting in the local area are Yellow Trumpet Bush seeds and pods. The pods pop open when they mature and dry out, then masses of little seeds - like tiny UFOs - are released onto the wind. I've been playing with possible ways of representing this gentle onslaught of weeds and germinating seeds in a vertical wall installation.
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| Kath Fries, Imperial Arcade Studio - pinned Yellow Trumpet Bush seeds - work in progress, Gosford 20 June 2012 |
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| Kath Fries, Imperial Arcade Studio - pinned Yellow Trumpet Bush seeds - work in progress, Gosford 20 June 2012 |
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| Kath Fries, Imperial Arcade Studio - pinned Yellow Trumpet Bush seeds - work in progress, Gosford 20 June 2012 |
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| Kath Fries, Imperial Arcade Studio - Yellow Trumpet Bush seeds and pods - found materials, Gosford 20 June 2012 |
The Gosford Artists Residency is organised by Gosford Regional Gallery and the Imperial Arcade. Artists: Wendy Abel Campbell, Kath Fries, Kylie Rose McLean and Janet Meaney. Visitors are welcome 10am to 3pm Monday to Friday 18-29 June and our resulting work will be exhibited at Gosford Regional Gallery from 21 July to 16 September. www.gosfordregionalgallery.com
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