Kath Fries Studio: Sun-panels: site responsive installation at BigCi

Kath Fries, Sun-panels, 2015, beeswax, found stones and branch, sunlight and shadows,
BigCi Art Shed, Bilpin, NSW

Over the past few weeks I've been visiting the BigCi art shed, making work and exploring the area, thanks to the support of Hawkesbury Regional Gallery. Warm morning sunlight streams into the art shed, thawing out the chill of mountains' winter weather, and these pools of sunlight seemed to direct how I inhabited the space. Working in such an unusually large studio space enabled me to pour numerous fragile beeswax panels and gently spread them out across the extensive concrete floor.

Kath Fries, Sun-panels, 2015, beeswax, found stones and branch, sunlight and shadows,
BigCi Art Shed, Bilpin, NSW

The beeswax sourced from Malfoy's, also in the Blue Mountains, was an extremely rich yellow colour due to its freshness and the types of pollen and nectar that the bees had collected. Although I liked the vibrancy of the colour and its associations of lively pollination and thriving health, it was really too bright and intense for my purposes. Hoping that the sunlight would naturally cause the wax to fade, I tried moving the panels into patches of sunshine funnelled into the studio via the huge roller doors. In the process of repositioning these panels - chasing the pools of sunlight that shifted over the course of the morning - my traces of movement developed into an installation in itself. I documented the playful lines and shapes of my beeswax panels in the space as they changed in relation to the sunlight and shadow transitions.

Kath Fries, Sun-panels, 2015, beeswax, sunlight and shadows, detail view

Kath Fries, Sun-panels, 2015, beeswax, found stones and branch, sunlight and shadows

Kath Fries, Sun-panels, 2015, beeswax, found stones and branch, sunlight and shadows

BigCi - Bilpin international grounds for Creative initiatives, is located on the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park and Wollemi National Park. During my visits I've been exploring the rocky escarpments and water catchments of the area, and was intrigued to learn about the poetically named 'hanging swamps' and their vital roles in maintaining the local ecosystems. For my upcoming installation work at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery in Windsor, 19 June - 2 August 2015, I’ve collected sandstone shards and branches from the area, and dripped them with beeswax to echo the layered interconnections between precipitation and geology which has evolved to support the unique flora and fauna of the area.