Renew, 2023

This series of pots paid homage to the beauty and significance of the trees at my studio's home, Gasworks Creative Precinct, which is a magnificent parkland with many established trees. When one pays attention, these trees reveal their amazing resilience and adaptability, responding to climate and human interference. Each species of tree changes its bark according to the seasons. Gum trees respond immediately to extreme weather, shedding bark and sometimes limbs in the heat. I observed the Sydney Blue Gums and the River Red Gums in the park healing from damage - there have been repeated incidents of graffiti scratched into their trunks - it's visible for months, and then it's gone, just like us renewing our skin, they renew theirs. 
The series includes a Sydney Blue gum with graffiti, an Ironbark with its rough, blackened, resin soaked bark, and a set of Casurina with vivd green lichen highlighting the textured surfaces.

Renew was a major exhibition at Gasworks Creative Precinct in 2023. As a signal of our recovery from the devastation of Covid, the resident artists at Gasworks were invited to respond to our park environment.
Images: Dean Green
Ceramic sculpture based on Ironbark tree
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