Paramor Prize Finalist: Casula Powerhouse

Kath Fries, Bind, 2013, bronze, sisal and beeswax, 52x126x92cm

 My bronze sculpture, Bind, has been selected as a finalist for the inaugural Paramor Prize at Casual Powerhouse Arts Centre. This award has been launched in memory of the artist Wendy Paramor (1938-1975) and aims to encourage new ways of seeing, experiencing and interpreting the world around us.

Bind imitates that change is inevitable, despite human persistence at trying to halt its progress. Cast in bronze, the twisting growth of this magnolia branch is permanently paused just on the point of blooming, the small buds are representative of life and its possibility, symbolising of the fleetingness of time. The branch was cast directly into bronze using a ‘lost wax’ technique, which burns the branch from the inside outwards replacing the impermanent wood and fibres with metal, rendering temporal growing shapes into static forms. This casting process demands an act of destruction, so the original living form no longer exists and all that remains is an inert object. Sisal rope  tightly wrapped around the central stem of the branch is sealed with beeswax, physically conveying further attempts at constraining, sealing and holding still the changing nature of the growing branch. As such Bind metaphorically reflects our frequent human endeavours to render permanent that which is impermanent, and the futility of attempting to influence the progression of time.

 Finalists: Marian Abboud, 
Tim Andrew, 
Clark Beumont, 
Damien Butler, 
Penelope Cain, 
Carla Cecson, 
Simon Alexander Cook and Geoff Sellman, 
Gary Deirmendjian, 
James Dodd, 
Jacquelene Drinkall, 
Kath Fries, 
Sarah Goffman, 
Tim Gregory, 
Freya Jobbins, 
Yvette Hamilton, 
Joanne Handley 
Ash Keating, 
Karena Keys, 
Rosalind Lemoh, 
Owen Leong, 
Leon Lester, 
Liana Lewis, 
Lorraine Maggs, 
Megan McPherson, 
Louise Paramor, 
Katy B Plummer, 
The Polka Dot Sisters (Sally Atkins and Kate Stewart), 
Diego Ramirez, 
Merri Randell, 
Erica Seccombe, 
Paul Snell, 
Susannah Strati, 
Ioulia Terizi, 
Mimi Tong, 
Frank Trimarchi, 
Undrawing the Line (Zanny Begg), 
Carla and Lisa Wherby, 
Julie Williams, 
Gabriella and Brent Wilson, 
Jason Wing.
Paramor Prize opening invitation, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
PARAMOR PRIZE
31 January – 15 March 2015
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
1 Powerhouse Road, Casula NSW 2170
(Enter via Shepherd Street Liverpool)
Monday to Sunday 10am - 5pm