Number 1pages - Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation

Transcription

Ripples, Dendritic Forms and Catsʼ Paws.
An Investigation of Natural and Mediated Forms in an
Australian Arid Region
Submitted by
Jennifer Ann Matthews
Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours)
An exegesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Visual Arts, School of Humanities and
Social Science, La Trobe University, Bendigo.
November 2011
Table of Contents
Title
Table of Contents
List of Plates & Photographers
Summary
Statement of Authorship
Acknowledgements
1
Introduction
9
Chapter
1
Ripples, Dendritic Forms and Catsʼ Paws
Chapter
2
The Glass Project
Chapter
3
Natureʼs Language of Glyphs
Chapter
4
Collaborations with Nature
43
Chapter
5
Mediation and the Ephemeral
57
23
38
Conclusion
70
Bibliography
72
List of Plates and Photographers
1.
ʻRipples and Catsʼ Pawsʼ on the water of the Murray River. Photographer J.Matthews
2.
ʻMallee Treeʼ Photographer J.Matthews
3.
ʻMildura Horizon Line.ʼ Photographer J.Matthews
4.
ʻMildura Bush.ʼ Photographer J.Matthews
5.
J.Matthews. ʻSky,ʼ Oil on Board, Photographer J.Matthews
6.
J.Matthews. ʻNorth of Mopoke Hut' Oil on Canvas Photographer J.Matthews
7.
J.Matthews. ʻRipplesʼ Glass Detail. ( 2008). Photographer J.Matthews
8.
J.Matthews. ʻRipplesʼ Acrylic on canvas, float slumped glass. Photographer J.Matthews
9.
Water Screen. Photographer D. Nightingale
10.
Water screen. Photographer D. Nightingale
11.
Projection in Gallery. Photographer D. Nightingale
12.
Glass ʻRipplesʼ in Gallery. Photographer K. Haggblom
13.
ʻRaindrip patterns on gum tree.ʼ Photographer J.Matthews
14.
Dendritic formsʼ. Central Australia. Photographer J.Matthews
15.
ʻLarge Ripplesʼ Central Australia. Photographer J.Matthews
16.
ʻSand Ripplesʼ Perry Sand Hills, Mildura. Photographer J.Matthews
17.
ʻCloudsʼ. Photographer J.Matthews
18.
Diagram air pressure, Illustration by Walther Roggenkamp
19.
Diagram air pressure. Illustration by Walther Roggenkamp.
20.
ʻSalt-affected Cardross Lakeʼ. Photographer J.Matthews
21.
ʻSaltʼ Cardross Lakes, Mildura. Photographer J.Matthews
22.
ʻRipplesʼ Murray River. Photographer J.Matthews
23.
ʻDiagram of ripple marks. Photographer unknown
24.
ʻSand Ripplesʼ Perry Sandhills. Photographer J.Matthews
25.
ʻSand Ripples ʼ Perry Sandhills. Photographer J.Matthews
26.
ʻSand Dunesʼ Central Australia. Photographer J.Matthews
27.
ʻSand Dunesʼ Perry Sandhills. Photographer J.Matthews
28.
ʻLunettes ʼ Willandra Lakes Australia. Photographer unknown
29.
ʻLunettes Willandra Lakes. Photographer unknown
30.
ʻDendritic formʼ Central Australia. Photographer J.Matthews
31.
ʻDendritic formʼ Darling Anabranch in flood. Photographer Deborah Bogenhuber
32.
ʻDendritic Formʼ Laker Victoria in flood. Photographer Mark Henderson
33.
ʻDendritic formsʼ stressed gum trees Photographer
34.
Roxy Paine ʻNeuron 2010ʼ 17th.Biennale Photographer J.Matthews
35.
ʻDendritic marksʼ on tree Photographer J.Matthews
36.
ʻDendritic Patternʼ on a leaf. Photographer J.Matthews
37.
ʻDendritic pattern in barkʼ Photographer J.Matthews
38.
ʻCatsʼ Pawsʼ Cardross Lakes. Photographer J.Matthews
39.
ʻWater on sinkʼ. Photographer J.Matthews
40.
Cardross Lake showing repeated patterns. Photographer J.Matthews
41.
Dendritic drainage. Photographer J.Matthews
42.
Dendritic drainage into Lake Eyre. Photographer J.Matthews
43.
ʻAnamorphic scorched treeʼ showing dendritic marks. Photographer J.Matthews
44.
Glass from bonfire. Photographer J.Matthews
45.
Shards of glass. Photographer J.Matthews
46.
Single glass slumped over bark. Photographer D. Hobbs
47.
J.Matthews ʻGlass podʼ calligraphic marking. Photographer J.Matthews
48.
J.Matthews ʻGlass pod gestural marking.ʼ Photographer D. Hobbs
49.
ʻPhyliis Palmer Gallery Review Bendigo. Photographer J.Matthews
50.
Chinese Writing Oracle Bone. Photographer unknown
51.
J.Matthews. ʻGlyphsʼ taken from pods for scroll. Photographer J.Matthews
52.
J.Matthews. ʻMapping traitsʼ taken from the glass pods. Photographer J.Matthews
53.
J.Matthews. ʻMapping traitsʼ taken from the glass pods. Photographer J.Matthews
54.
J.Matthews. ʻMapping traitsʼ on glass pod (Detail). Photographer D.Hobbs
55.
J.Matthews. ʻReview at Phyllis Palmer Gallery Bendigoʼ 2010. Photographer J.Matthews
56.
J.Matthews. ʻFive scrolls of glyphsʼ Ink on paper, 2011. Photographer J.Matthews
57.
J.Matthews. Template for Glyphs on glass. Graphite on paper. Photographer J.Matthews
58.
J.Matthews. Sandblasted Glyphs (Portrait). Photographer D.Hobbs
59.
J.Matthews. Sandblasted Glyphs (Landscape). Photographer D.Hobbs
60.
Gerry King. ʻBarossa Valleyʼ 2011. Photographer unknown
61.
Placing bark on to paper and mediating the process. Photographer D.James
62.
Glass and bark ready for firing in kiln. Photographer J.Matthews
63.
J.Matthews. Glass and bark in large kiln. Photographer J.Matthews
64.
J.Matthews. Bark after Firing in Kiln. Photographer D.Hobbs
65.
Lubomir Ferko. ʻMy Commandmentʼ Photographer Galleria Artterre, Eleiska Daralova
66.
J.Matthews. Glass pod (detail) calligraphic markings. Photographer D.Hobbs
67.
J.Matthews. ʻA unique visual language of nature.ʼ Photographer D.Hobbs
68.
J.Matthews. Dendritic marks frottaged on the glass.ʼ Photographer D.Hobbs
69.
J.Matthews. Frottaged from nature. Detail. Photographer D.Hobbs
70.
Janet Laurence with Gabriella Bisetto using the hot glass medium.
71.
G.W. Botʼs catalogue ʻField of Glyphsʼ. Bucilic glyphs. Photographer Brenton McGeachie.
72.
G.W. Bot. ʻBush Glyphsʼ. Photographer Brenton McGeachie
73.
J.Matthews. First pod I fired showing calligraphic markings. Photographer J.Matthews
74.
J.Matthews. ʻGlyphsʼ 5 scrolls, ink on paper. Photographer J.Matthews
75.
G. W .Botʼs ʻResurrection glyphsʼ - midday 2009. Photographer Brenton McGeachie
76.
J.Matthews. ʻMapping traitsʼ taken from glass pod. Photographer J.Matthews
77.
J.Matthews. Markings taken from glass pod. Photographer J.Matthews
78.
Lascaux Cave II, France. Photographer unknown
79.
Cameron Robbins Drawing Machine. Photographer Cameron Robbins
80.
Cameron Robbins Solar Powered Machine. Photographer Gallery Barry Keldoulis
81.
J.Matthews. Frottaged images of Glyphs. Photographer D.Hobbs
82.
John Wolseley. Buried Painting. Photographer Terence Bogue
83.
John Wolseley. ʻBuried Painting complete.ʼ Photographer John Wolseley
84.
John Wolseley. ʻLandscape within Landscape.ʼ Photographer Terence Bogue
85.
J.Matthews. Carbonised Markings. Photographer J.Matthews
86.
Perry Sandhills. Photographer J.Matthews
87.
Aerial Photo of Sand dunesSimilar. Photographer J.Matthews
88.
John Wolseley. Painting of Black Mallee Stump. Photographer J.Wolseley
89.
John Wolseley. ʻCollaborating with nature.ʼ Photographer John Wolseley
90.
J.Matthews. Ephemeral Bark. Photographer J.Matthews
91.
J.Matthews. ʻBark and Glassʼ after firing in kiln. Photographer D. Hobbs
92.
J.Matthews. ʻNatures Frottaging.ʼ Photographer D.Hobbs
93.
Finger Flutings Yaranda Cave. Photographer Robert G. Bednarik
94.
Similar markings to Finger Flutings. Photographer D. Hobbs
95.
Jimmy Pike. Showing how children draw in sand. Photographer h Pat Lowe
96.
Jimmy Pike. Sandhills. Photographer Pat Lowe
97.
J.Matthews. Glass Pod showing mapping traits. Photographer D. Hobbs
98.
Emily Kngwarreye. ʻBig Yam Dreaming.ʼ Photographer unknown
99.
J.Matthews. Pod showing connectedness to the landscape. Photographer D. Hobbs
100. J.Matthews. Calligraphic traits. Photographer D. Hobbs
101. Jackson Pollock. Painting in Summer 1950. Photographer Hans Namuth
102. Jackson Pollock. Number 28. Photographer unknown
103. J.Matthews. Natureʼs Frottaging. Photographer D. Hobbs
104. Harry Nankin. Contact Quadrat. Photographer H. Nankin
105. Harry Nankin. Contact. Photographer H. Nankin
106. J.Matthews. Temporary Shadows. Photograher J.Matthews
107. Andy Goldsworthy. Black Stone. Photographer Andy Goldsworthy
108. Andy Goldsworthy. Icicles. Photographer Andy Goldsworthy
109. J.Matthews. Pod under lit. Photographer D. Hobbs
110. Andy Goldsworthy. Chestnut Leaves. Photographer Andy Goldsworthy
111. Gilberto Zorio. Burnet Writing. Photographer Guy Brett
112. J.Matthews. Entropy. Photographer D.Hobbs
113. Giovanni Anselmo Breath. Photographer Giovanni Anselmo
114. Robert Smithson. Spiral Jetty 1970. Photographer Estate of Robert Smithson
115. J.Matthews. ʻAbstract Geology.ʼ Photographer D. Hobbs
116. Robert Smithson drawing Amarillo Ramp. Photographer Estate of Robert Smithson
117. J.Matthews. Ashes to Ashes. Photographer D.Hobbs
118. J.Matthews. Sculpture of Bark. Photographer D. Hobbs
119. A Signature of Nature. Photographer J.Matthews
120. J.Matthews. Magnified fragile marks of nature. Photographer D. Hobbs
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the assistance given to me from the following:
Neil Fettling my supervisor, David James for editing, Denise James for her inspiration and
assistance on the trips to Crafers South Australia, Dr.Gerry King for his workshops, Eunice
Wake for the use of her kiln, Danielle Hobbs for her patience when photographing my work, Max
Robinson for making boxes for packing glass panels and the trip on the Murray River on his
houseboat, Davis Monumental Masons for sandblasting on glass, and Park Douglas
Commercial Printers for the printing of the scroll.
................................................................................................
Statement of Authorship
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains
no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis submitted for the
award of any degree or diploma.
No other personʼs work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text of the
thesis.
The thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary
institution.
............................................
.................................
Summary
As a young child I became acutely aware of this natural phenomena in the environment. Much
later during a trip on a houseboat on the Murray river, I had time to view the riverʼs
meanderings. I noted the wind blew across the surface of the water; interesting marks were
formed, known as Ripples and Catsʼ Paws. The banks of the river were lined with dead River
Red Gum trees exhibiting exposed roots and silver grey limbs. The formation of roots and limbs
created dendritic forms.
The elements in nature brought by [wind, fire, drought and flood ] leave fragile traits upon the
natural environment, that can be read as evidence of the power of nature. Ralph Waldo
Emerson an American essayist, poet, and philosopher from the 1800ʼs stated that nature has
signs we can interpret as a communication.1 Emerson argued that nature has signs (Ripples,
Dendritic forms, and Catsʼ Paws) that humankind can read as a language. This endorsement of
Emersonʼs notion that marks made in nature are a language, encouraged me to take this
research further.
Mediating the interaction of glass and River Red Gum bark became a successful methodology,
resulting in many of the same marks found in nature being embedded within the glass. This
process enabled me to isolate and objectify the glyphs, allowing the viewer to appreciate these
calligraphic marks, and interpret them as natureʼs language. Once the glyphs were objectified,
this facilitated further development using drawing, frottage and photography to create these
forms.
On viewing my work, an audience will have the opportunity to interpret these magnified fragile
marks, these ephemera left by nature, which will inform them and hopefully develop a greater
appreciation and understanding of this unique language of nature.
1 oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/emerson/nature-contents.html -introduction
Journals & Miscellaneous Notebook Emmerson Nature Essay.
1
Introduction
An Investigation of Natural and Mediated Forms in an Arid Australian Region
Ripples, Dendritic Forms and Catsʼ Paws have been a mystery that for many years entranced
me without my cognisance. The possibility of focussing research for my Masters of Visual Arts
on these ephemeral forms resulted from a boat trip on the Murray River in the summer of 2009.
Observing the patterns in the surface of the river water and on the bank, I was inspired by the
mystery and strength of these marks. I became aware that, like Ralph Waldo Emerson, an
American essayist, poet and philosopher from the 1800ʼs, I wanted to learn about the language
of nature.
“Nature is a language and every new fact one learns is a new word; but it is not a
language taken to pieces and dead in the dictionary, but the language put together
into a most significant and universal sense. I wish to learn this language, not that I
may know a new grammar, but that I may read the great book that is written in that
tongue.”
1
Emerson argued that nature has signs (Ripples, Dendritic Forms and Catsʼ Paws) that
humankind can read as a language. He saw this language as a conduit which allows us to make
a spiritual connection to nature. 2 This can enable the viewer to develop a way of understanding
the marks left by the events of nature and an appreciation of natureʼs power and changeability.
This endorsement of Emersonʼs notion, that marks made in nature are a language, encouraged
me to take this research further and develop the following question;
The elements of nature are able to create unique fragile marks in our environment. These
ephemeral marks are the result of the ever changing narrative of nature. Can we take
these ephemeral marks and with human mediation transform them into a permanent
state by creating an object? With this object containing the narrative, does it enable
humankind to decipher and analyse the unique language of nature?
1 oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/emerson/nature-contents.html -introduction
Journals & Miscellaneous Notebook Emmerson Nature Essay.. Accessed 20/11/10
2 Nature (1836)by Ralph Waldo Emerson Ch. 4 Language oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/emerson/
nature-contents.html -introduction. Accessed 20/11/10
2
Figure 1. ʻRipples and Catsʼ Pawsʼ on the water of the Murray River
Photographer J.Matthews
Being an only child, I invented my own games, especially when traveling in a car with my
parents. I can remember how intrigued I was with the shape of a lonely tree silhouetted on a hill.
It often was a leafless tree, showing the branches stretching out as if they were the arms of a
performing ballerina. This was the beginning of my love affair with the patterns in the
environment.
In his book ʻ Poetics of Spaceʼ, Gaston Bachelard, a French philosopher, describes my feelings
regarding the discovery of the dendritic form, which fascinated me so long ago and has been
with me all my life, though I did not realise it until now.
“Sometimes we find ourselves in the presence of a form that guides and encloses
our earliest dreams. For a painter, a tree is composed in its roundness. But a poet
continues the dream from higher up. He knows that when a thing becomes
isolated, it becomes round, assumes a figure of being that is concentrated upon
itself. In Rilkeʼs Poems Francais, this is how the walnut tree lives and commands
attention. Here, again around a lone tree, which is the centre of a world, the dome
of the sky becomes round, in accordance with the rule of cosmic poetry.”
3
Tree always in the centre
of all that surrounds it
Tree feasting upon
Heavens great dome. (Rilkeʼs Poems Francais)
I relate the cosmic poetry in Rilkeʼs poem, as memories in my subconscious mind, of the images
of dendritic trees which have been with me all my life.
3 Bachelard (1994) citesʼ principle of ʻround beingʼ coupled with Micheletʼs meaning of “roundness” as a “...
model of being.”(IP237) This has led him to view the universe [ʻrules of cosmic poetryʼ] as round, in the
metaphysical sense, as...”the dome of the sky becomes round.” (P239)
3
A married woman with children, I lived in Canberra, the Australian capital. The city, designed by
Walter Burley Griffin, who worked with nature and the environment, incorporated green belts of
trees between the suburbs. I found this a satisfying environment to live in as trees were always
visible from my suburban home.
Then, due to changes in my personal circumstances, I decided to leave this lush green city of
trees and move to Mildura, situated on the banks of the Murray River in the Mallee, an arid
Australian region.
Figure 2. ʻMallee Treeʼ
The Mallee region is named after the Mallee tree, a predominant species of eucalyptus. The
Mallee tree has a ligno-tuber underground and branches above the ground, which give it the
capacity to regenerate after fire.
Figure 3. ʻMilduraʼs Horizon Lineʼ
4
Milduraʼs environment is the antithesis of Canberra. In Mildura, it feels like looking through a
window and opening the curtains to a vista without obstructions; to the flatness, the vastness,
the airiness and the sheer scale of the sky. The sky in relation to people is defined by the
horizon, which intensified my perception of the landscape. Where I lived in Canberra, the
shadows and patterns from the trees were almost too many; everything was closed in by the
hills. I relate it to a painting which does not have sufficient negative space. In contrast, Mildura is
a minimalist painting with empty spaces; this creates a feeling of freedom.
I can associate with how Rosalie Gascoigne must have felt on her arrival from busy Auckland,
New Zealand to Mt. Stromlo, 10 km from Canberra. In 1943, this isolated area would have been
very difficult to adjust to, and in which to later raise three children.
4
Gascoigne started her art
career later in life. Like her, I also started my art later in life and came from Canberra to Mildura.
On reflection, my art practice has been informed by my passion for the environment, the Mallee
in particular.
Figure 4. ʻMildura Bushʻ
In the last year of my Undergraduate studies I painted numerous Mallee skies. This was a
metaphor for my feelings when I arrived in Mildura, to this alien land of dust storms, little rain,
heat, sunsets, vast sky, and clouds uninterrupted by the topography of the land. The marks
made by nature in the Mallee are not softened or hidden by the lush vegetation that clothes
Canberra. I could visualise the whole painting, using all the natural elements, which awed me by
its difference to marks nature had left in the landscape.
4
http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/gascoigne/. Accessed 13/11/10
5
Figure 5. J.Matthews ʻSkyʼ (2003) Oil on board, 20 x 20 cm
After painting so many skies for an extended period, I felt I needed to change my gaze to the
red earth of the Mallee landscape. In reconnecting to the earth I chose an aerial perspective,
which gave me a birds-eye view of the landscape. I looked at satellite images of the Murray
Sunset National Park. The things that first caught my attention were the dendritic marks made in
the plains by old water courses north of the ʻMopoke Hutʼ site, which is a camping area in the
Murray Sunset National Park. This became my next body of work, titled ʻNorth Mopoke Hutʼ.
Figure 6. J.Matthews ʻNorth Mopoke Hut' (2004) Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm
While I was engaged in painting the Mopoke Hut series, the construction of the Mildura Marina
commenced. As I live within walking distance of the Marina, I was able to observe the ongoing
excavation of the red earth. I was transfixed by this rearrangement of tons and tons of earth to
create a connection to the river, thus forming the Marina. It was not the Marina that interested
me, it was the process of removing the natural earth to allow the water from the Murray River to
flow into a man-made structure to hold the water. This was humankind mediating the dendritic
form of a section of the river. Terraforming is the word used to describe the process of
rearranging the surface topography of the land to suit another ideal.
6
ʻTerraformingʼ was the title for my next body of work. This work started with the concept of
terraforming the earth, but made a dramatic shift when I observed the water coming in from the
river to fill the Marina. When the Marina was filled, the ripples fascinated me; surfaces had a
new glow, and I could see reflected light and shadows. Because of the stillness of the water the
Marina appeared to exaggerate these ripples on the surface, and they appeared to me to look
like glass. I found that glass and water were similar in appearance. Glass and water are both
reflective and transparent, with one difference - glass is a solid. From this outlook came the
conclusion that glass was the media with which I wanted to work. I used glass as a metaphor for
water.
As I was trained as a painter, I had no knowledge of working with the medium of glass. My
solution was to consult a glass artist, who assisted me through the process. I researched Janet
Laurence, an Australian artist, whose works relate to nature and architecture. Generally known
for her public works of site-specific installations, she often uses glass as a medium within her
works. Laurenceʼs work gave me an insight into the versatility of the medium of glass and the
possibilities to shape and mould the surface of glass, capturing the glow, the movement, and the
reflected light and shadows of the illusive ripples. Laurence stated:
“For me the veil is the space between perception and memory.
Still space, slow space. A dissolving membrane, a hesitation.
A way of looking within the world rather than at it.5
Figure 7. J.Matthews ʻRipplesʼ Detail (2008) Slumped glass over moulded felt, 35 x 35 cm
The outcome of my Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours year exhibition in 2008 were a number of
installations; shadow boxes of glass panels lit from beneath, a suite of glass moulded (slumped)
surface ripples, a projection of ripples (Fig.8) onto a gallery wall and an outside projection/
installation of ripples through a wall of water.
5
Janet Laurence Artist Sydney | Archibald 2007 | Australian War . Accessed 03/06/11
7
Figure 8. J.Matthews ʻRipplesʼ (2008) Acrylic on canvas, float slumped glass, 35 cm x 35 cm
Figure 8 is clear moulded glass over a painting of ripples. I used these images to video through
the water screen outside (Fig.9) and to project onto a wall inside the gallery (Fig.11).
Figure 9. ʻWater screenʼ (2008)
Figure 10. ʻWater Screenʼ (2008)
Photographer David Nightingale
Photographer David Nightingale
Figure 11. ʻProjection in Galleryʼ (2008)
Figure 12. ʻGlass Ripples in Galleryʼ (2008)
Photographer D. Nightingale
Photographer K.Haggblom
8
After completing my Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours in 2008, I felt the need to continue my
interest in capturing these ephemeral marks after discovering further traits of nature and ʻits
languageʼ through observation of rain-drip patterns on a gum tree after a bush fire.
Figure 13. ʻRain-drip patterns on a gum treeʻ
9
Chapter 1
Figure 14. ʻDendritic formsʼ. Central Australia
The forces of nature create ephemeral marks in the environment that we read as ripples,
dendritic forms and catsʼ paws. For example, Ripples6 are formed by the wind on sand and
water and the rings that relate to the growth of a tree; the Dendritic7 Form of branching of a
tree or river, or the observation of Catsʼ Paws8 which is a light breeze that ruffles the water.
My research methodology required a lateral approach to research, a combination of
geographical text and physical exploration of these forms. These are all naturally ephemeral
forms affected by the environment. The earthʼs physical environment consists of the
atmosphere, climate and weather, which are all interconnected and make these natural
ephemeral forms. This includes the sun, moon, earth, wind, rain, ripples (water and sand),
dendritic forms and catsʼ paws (capillary waves). The following is a brief description of how the
weather causes these ephemeral marks in the environment:
The sun is a yellow star within the Milky Way Galaxy. It is as important to life on earth as water,
for without the sun everything freezes. All life depends on the sun for energy and heat, and
produces light which travels from the sun to the earth in waves of electromagnetic radiation
which has a wide variety of light wavelengths. Some are visible, but others are not, e.g.
ultraviolet light.9 The sun creates temperature variations, climates and weather, all processes
that then mark the earthʼs surface.
6
Penguin dictionary of Physical Geography P.456
7ibid
P138
8
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cat%27s-paw. Accessed 17/02/10
9
Sun. Cosmos,Lifetime Distributors, The Book People,P/L. 2 Hudson Ave. Castle Hill,2154 NSW. P.106
10
When the moon and sun are in a line with earth, the gravitational attraction causes tides, which
are very important. These tides are the causes of the wave ripple marks on the surface of the
water or the base of a river bed. As the moon is accelerated toward the earth, the gravitational
attraction of the earth on the moon is a central force. The moonʼs revolution about the earth is
27.32 days. The level of an ocean rises to a maximum and then falls to a minimum once in
about every 12 hours and 25 minutes. This pattern of changing water levels exposes and
uncovers soil surfaces, working them into a variety of shapes and textures on riverbeds,
sandbars and shorelines.
Wind is a current of air, moving with speed in any direction, but generally assumed to be parallel
to the earthʼs surface. The direction of a wind is indicated by the point of the compass from
which it blows: a north wind blows from the north. Winds only occur in the atmosphere, a
collection of gases above the earthʼs surface. 10
Warm air is lighter than cold air and rises, leaving a space for the cold heavier air to blow and
replace the warm air. Air usually flows from high pressure to low pressure, but when the
temperature is very different or high pressure comes close to the low pressure, this causes very
strong winds.11 The rotating of the earth causes the wind to blow in an anti-clockwise direction in
the low pressure cells in the Southern Hemisphere. These strong winds help to shape the large
sand ripples in arid Australia and other markings on the earthʼs surface.
Figure 15. ʻLarge Ripplesʼ Central Australia
Figure 16. ʻSand Ripplesʼ Perry Sand Hills, Mildura
10
Dictionary of Geography. Penguin. P 253
11
Environmental Science Dictionary Collins P464
11
Figure 17. ʻCloudsʻ
Clouds
“A visible mass of particles of water or ice suspended in the atmosphere, and
formec nucleid by the condensation of WATER VAPOUR ON HYGROSCOPIC
NUCLEI.”
12
Figure 18. Diagram showing air pressure. 13
Figure 19. Diagram showing air pressure in Australia in January.14
Where water meets with cold air, it separates, and the cold winter air becomes visible as mist,
cloud or precipitation. In this way it releases the huge quantities of heat which it had absorbed in
warmer regions. The visible expression of this are the clouds15. Shading portions of the earthʼs
12
Environmental Science Collins Dictionary P. 80
13
Sensitive Chaos. The Creation of Flowing forms in Water and Air.P.106
14
Ibid..P.107
15
ibid. P.112
12
surface from the sunʼs energy, clouds help to increase temperature variations, which can in turn
alter the surface of landscapes.
Within a cloud, water droplets and ice particles are moved up and down by air currents and
gravity. The particles in a cloud are tiny - only 0.5 and 2.5 mm in diameter. It takes thousands of
these particles to form a drop heavy enough to fall towards the ground at a reasonable speed.
Rain or precipitation from clouds is formed as a result of condensation of atmospheric water
vapour in rising air masses. In semi arid climates the rate of evaporation is dependent on air
temperature and where the ratio of precipitation to evaporation is less than one. On an annual
basis these regions suffer a deficiency of rainfall, although a short-lasting moist season usually
exists. 16 This happened in the Mallee: we exceeded our annual rainfall in the early months of
2011. The falling rain in arid Australia is often episodic - heavy localized falls that erode soft
sands, carrying materials to areas of deposition for reorganization by winds into dunes and
surface ripples. On vegetation and landforms, the falling water etches marks on tree limbs in
venous patterns, on sand and earth into dendritic forms.
In semi arid regions the ability of the soil to retain moisture is limited by the saline groundwater
moving upwards due to capillarity. High air and ground temperatures cause evaporation and the
deposition of salts from the groundwater.17 The rapid evaporation of ground water by dry air and
high temperatures often leaves soils in fractured tessellated plates, shaded white with salts and
awaiting dissolution from falling rain, or immersion from a deluge. These elements combine in
various ways to create ripples.
Figure 20. ʻSalt-affected Cardross Lakeʼ
Figure 21.ʻSaltʼ Cardross Lakes, Mildura
16P359
17
Environmental Science Reference Dictionary.Collins c. 1990
Enviromental Science Collins Reference Dictionary P.380
13
Figure 22. ʻRipplesʼ the Murray River
Ripples
Ripples are small waves and are affected by the wind when it blows across the surface of the
river and pulls the water upwards. Gravity will pull it down again, creating ripples. The constant
movement of waves is like a pendulum swinging in a rhythmic oscillation caused by the path of
the moon and its tide-producing forces.
Patterns are produced in unconsolidated sediments by the fluid motion of waves, currents or
wind. Symmetric ripple marks are produced by an oscillatory current, but where the current
direction is well defined, asymmetric ripple marks will be defined 18. In either of these cases their
crests may be sinuous or straight, but a particular type of lobate ripple mark can be either lunate
(pointing up current) or linguoid (pointing down current). These ripple marks are all formed in
moving water.
Figure 23. Diagram of ripple marks.
18
Penguin 1984 Dictionary of Physical Geography. P.456
19
ibid.P457
19
14
Alternatively, ripple marks may be caused by the wind blowing across dune sand. Ripple marks
in an arid region tend to be larger in offshore water and in exposed surface areas.
20
Figure 24. ʻSand Ripplesʼ Perry Sandhills.
Figure 25. ʻSand Ripplesʼ Perry Sandhills.
The sand can have ripples without water, but needs the wind. These are called dunes or sand
ripples and occur in semi arid and desert regions on beaches and on sandbars within river
systems, such as the Murray Darling Basin.
Dunes
Dunes can be considered as large ripples. A dune is a mound or ridge of sand formed by the
wind in a desert. It is formed by sand particles carried by the wind and piled into a heap, which
gradually increases in size until it becomes a mound or ridge; the dune is often started where an
obstacle of some kind exists, and the sand is heaped against this until it is covered and the
sand falls over on the leeward side.21
Figure 26. ʻSand Dunesʼ Central Australia
20ibid.
P456
21.Penguin
Dictionary of Geography P.72
15
Figure 27. ʻSand Dunesʼ Perry Sandhills, 5 kms from Wentworth near Mildura.
Part of the Willandra Lakes system
Figure 28 ʻLunettesʼ Willandra Lakes
Photographer unknown
Lunettes, or crescent shaped dunes, occur in the desert or along a sea coast. These deserts
are almost bare of vegetation and have low precipitation. Only poor scrub or grasslands will
grow. This type of desert is found in the Willandra Lakes, a system which lies within the Murray
Basin of south western New South Wales. These basins were filled by runoff from the Highlands
during the last glacial period, and their final drying out began approximately 20,000 years ago. It
is now a World Heritage Site of 2,400 square kilometres. Rock dunes form where the rock has
been exposed by the strong erosive action of the wind. This type of desert is found in inland
Australia. 22
22
http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/willandra/information.html. Accessed
31/07/11
16
Figure 29. ʻLunettesʼ affected by the wind at Willandra Lakes.
Dendritic Forms
Dendriticʼ means a branched form resembling a tree. The word is from the Greek term dendron,
meaning a tree. Dendritic forms are a type of drainage pattern which develops as an entirely
random network because of the absence of structural controls, causing a dendritic pattern to be
characteristic of terrain which is of uniform lithology, and where faulting and jointing are
insignificant, e.g. massive crystalline rocks or thick clay plains. 23
Figure 30. ʻDendritic Formʼ Central Australia.
On the landscape, flowing water forms rills (small streams), which unite to form larger channels,
and ultimately form gullies downstream by joining others until a main stream emerges, carrying
eroded material and depositing it on flatter land, leaving loose soil available for moulding into
ripples by wind.
The Darling and Murray Rivers are connected at Wentworth, 34 km from Mildura. The dendritic
forms of these two rivers flow and meander, forming sweeping loops on their way to the sea.
23
Dictionary of Physical Geography Penguin P138
17
Figure 31. ʻDendritic Formʼ Darling Anabranch in flood, December 2010
Photographer Deborah Bogenhuber, MDFRC 24
Figure 32. ʻDendritic formʻ Lake Victoria inlet in flood, January 2010
Photographer Mark Henderson, MDFRC
Every river system has its catchment area, which starts with a network of small capillary veins
first under the soil, then above the soil. Small tributaries flow to larger tributaries; this pattern is
repeated, with each step increasing in size, until eventually it meets up with the main river. Any
variation in the dendritic form of the river system, by drought or interference such as irrigation,
will accommodate itself to that change. This can change the structure of a healthy river right
down to its groundwater reserves and its subterranean capillary systems, affecting the land as
well as the banks both sides of the river. When this happens, the river deepens and drains off
the surrounding water, sucking it away from an ever-increasing area. 25 This has happened to
the Murray River at Mildura over a long period of time. The banks of the river have dried so
much that many of the River Red Gums have either died or are very unhealthy, as well as
having an impact on other environmental concerns.
24
MDFRC; Murray, Darling Freshwater Research Centre. Mildura.
25
Sensitive Chaos - The Creation of Flowing Forms in Water and Air. P77
18
Figure 33. ʻDendritic formsʼ of stressed River Red Gums, Lindsay-Mulcra-Wallpolla floodplain,
February 2010
Photographer MDFRC.
An example of a dendritic form occurs in Roxy Paineʼs sculpture at the seventeenth Biennale of
Sydney 2010. This work ʻNeuron 2010ʼ, could have easily been renamed “Dendritic Form”.
Figure 34. Roxy Paine ʻNeuron 2010ʼ 17th Biennale of Sydney 2010
Roxy Paine is an American artist who manufactures the dendritic tree form by making large
sculptures. Painesʼ dendrites copy the natural growth of trees through a process of welding
together industrial stainless steel pipes in varying diameters. The title Neuron 2010 is related to
the nerve impulses passing through the human body in the form of dendrites. This branching
form is found in all structures - rivers, trees, our bodies, plants, and even in computer systems,
to just name a few.
In animals, the same patterns are found in circulatory and nervous systems, blood flowing from
cells and capillaries and ever larger vessels until arteries and veins are reached. In most plants
dendritic patterns are the recurring arrangement in vegetation, with the same patterns emerging
from twigs to small and large branches, bound to a trunk. Dendrites underpin natureʼs
patterns.26
26
Sensitive Chaos -Water Insteracting with the Earth. P76.
19
Figure 35. ʻDendritic marks on treeʻ
Figure 36. ʻDendritic Patternʼ on a leaf
Vassily Kandinsky was influenced by nature and believed abstract art had all these qualities,
and in a similar way describes the dendritic form perfectly:
“An observant walk through the countryside will reveal any number of thread-like
lines, although much of the linear order of nature is hidden underground, in the
form of roots, rhizomes and fungal mycelia. Aboveground plants sprout stems and
shoots. The leaf of every deciduous tree has its linear network of veins, while every
needle of the conifer is a thread-line in itself.”
Figure 37. ʻDendritic patternʼ in bark
27
27 V. Kandinksy 1982 Point and Line to plain. In K.C.Lindsys and P Vergo Editors. Kandinskyʼs complete
writings on art vol.2. ( 1922-43) London : Faber and Faber.. Accessed 01/08/11
20
Figure 38. ʻCatsʼ Pawsʼ Cardross Lakes
Catsʼ Paws
Catsʼ Paws, also known as capillary waves, are the result of a light breeze on the surface of
small areas of water, and in tall fields of grasses, such as wheat.
28
Paul Carter, a historian, writer, philosopher and artist in his description of peripheral vision,
describes Catsʼ Paws perfectly:
“The narrowness of the roaming glance may be inescapable, but within its narrow
field a host of part-shapes, the glitter of waves, the throb of the mirage, co-exist:
and these field events do not resolve themselves into shapes, but persists as it
were on the edge of vision, defying attention to reduce their glare, to detach them
from the ground.”
29
These subtle marks can be seen occasionally on the water at the Cardross Lakes, which are
shallow drainage lakes surrounded by bushland, 15 kms south-west of Mildura. Catsʼ Paws are
darker areas on the surface due to the reflected light from the sun or moon. They are almost
imperceptible but are discerned by the dancing light reflections of the variations of the surface of
the water bodies. These variations in light reflectivity are part of my investigation into recreating
these glyphs in glass, these molten marks of nature.
Peter Stevens, a Harvard biologist, painter and photographer describes the patterns in nature
as:
“Abstract patterns whether developed through doodles, fine art or mathematical
analyses, are those that nature develops through the interaction of physical
systems. All patterns whether drawn by artists, calculated by mathematicians or
produced by natural forces are shaped by the same spatial environment. All are
subject to the tyranny of space. Synthetic patterns of lines and dots are engaging
28
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/journal/catspaws.htm access 25/11/10
29
Paul Carter Uncertain ground/essay P.146
21
in their own right, but more importantly, they speak eloquently of the order that all
things inevitably share.” 30
In nature as in contemporary art, abstraction often has repeated patterns although not noticed at
first glance. See (Fig 102) Jackson Pollockʼs “Number 28”. I noticed to my amazement the water
patterns on my stainless steel sink (Fig.39) had similar patterning to the shores of Cardross
Lake (Fig. 40) Repeated patterns can be seen in (Fig.41) with the dendritic form of the water
following paths of least resistance.
Figure 39. Water on sink
Figure 40. Cardross Lake showing repeated patterns
Figure 41. ʻDendritic drainageʼ into Lake Eyre
Photographer (Figs 39-40-41) J.Matthews
30 Stevens Peter S. Patterns in Nature, c. 1974, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Toronto,
Canada P107.
22
Figure 42. ʻ Dendritic drainageʼ into Lake Eyre
In 2009 heavy rains brought major flooding to nearly every river system in the Murray Darling
Basin, Australia and Lake Eyre filled once again. An aerial image (Fig.42) showing the dendritic
patterns of water pouring into the lake through one of many channels that drain the desert
during the rainy season. Taking this photograph was so captivating that my imagination was
working overdrive and became excited by all the possibilities of creating a body of work relating
to the Dendritic Forms of Lake Eyre.
23
Chapter 2
The Glass Project
My initial plan was to use these dendritic forms to make paintings, until I came across a
photograph I had taken of an anamorphic scorched Lemon Scented Gum tree. This image of
the gum tree had the appearance of a haemorrhaging human limb (Fig.43) caused by a wild
bush fire and raindrip patterns that had marked the scorched bark giving an impression that the
tree was bleeding.
The image was so powerful that I felt painting being a two dimensional work would not convey
the message I was aiming to achieve.
Figure 43 ʻAnamorphic scorched treeʼ showing dendritic marks
As I had started to work with glass in my Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hons) year I considered
utilising glass again. This time I would endeavour to emulate the marks made by nature (Fig.43)
Anamorphic scorched tree.ʼ by incorporating bark into the glass through alchemy, where
previously I slumped glass over a mould I had made of ceramic fire blanket (wet felt) to
represent ripples.
I commenced experimenting with a small domestic fire, and placed a single layer of glass over a
small branch from a tree seeking to replicate the marking left by the fire on the tree.This
produced a small explosion and some smoke markings on the glass. I realised I needed a larger
fire and more heat.
My next experiment required the help of a friend and his forklift. I placed several single layers of
glass over dendritic forms of trees in several areas including the centre of a very large bonfire. I
retrieved the glass from the fire a week later to find it was still quite hot in places. Some glass
had melted into fossilized shapes (Fig. 44) and had some interesting carbonised marking in
gestural patterns, while others had cracked and exploded into shards of glass with little marking.
24
Figure 44 J.Matthews ʻGlass from bonfireʼ 2010
Figure 45. J.Matthews ʻShards of Glassʼ from bonfire
While much hotter, the bonfire was so large as to be uncontrollable. I decided to attempt a
controlled burn by making a deep trench in the earth and layering hot embers, bark, glass and
earth several times. I left the glass in the trench for a week and when I retrieved the glass, the
earth was still quite warm but the glass had not changed other than some subtle smokey marks.
Possibly too much earth stopped the fire from getting hot enough to alter the shape or mark the
glass. Other experiments involved using wood, fern, salt, copper wire but the best results were
from carbonising bark.
At this stage of my experiments I realised I needed a much hotter fire if the bark was to
carbonise the glass, similar to the markings of the glass in the bonfire, but not fossilised.
I needed the heat to burn the bark, but not to be too hot to distort the glass. I made
arrangements to work with a professional glass artist who gave me access to her automatically
controlled kiln.
25
Marquettes were made using one layer of float glass31 and slumping 32 the glass over the bark
from different trees and saltbush, and fired in a kiln to 800c. degrees to see if I could emulate
the markings of nature as in (Fig. 43). The results were inconsistent, some with no marking to
faint markings with one exception the bark from the River Red Gum. This glass had more
defined fragile marks, (Fig. 46) which had adhered to the glass in a few places but were easily
erased by touch. This image had possibilities, showing delicate fine lines that resembled the
dendritic forms in nature. The use of saltbush produced a ghosting effect, but as I was exploring
the dendritic marks on the tree, I decided to concentrate only on the bark as the Red Gum had
produced the most successful marks on the glass.
Figure 46. J.Matthews ʻSingle glass slumped over barkʼ, 30 x 30cm
Photographer D.Hobbs
My next experiment was to sandwich a larger piece of bark between two pieces of glass. When
fired in the kiln the sheets of glass became hermetically sealed, encasing the carbonised bark,
forming a balloon like bubble. I called these glass forms pods and will refer to them as such
through the thesis. The draping of the melted glass over the bark and the carbonised black
marks from the firing in the kiln, gave wonderful calligraphic and gestural markings very similar
to what is found in nature after a bushfire.
31
Float glass is 3 ml. clear window glass.
32 Slumping means bending and shaping glass using heat of a kiln. to form shapes by bending
the glass into or over a mould.)
26
Figure 47. J.Matthews ʻGlass Podʼ calligraphic marking, 30 x 30 cm
Figure 48. J.Matthews ʻGlass Podʼ gestural marking, 30 x 30 cm
Over the ensuing research there were many failures where the glass became devitrified or
cracked, but there were also a number of successful glass pods.
When slumping glass the technique is that the mould should not adhere to the glass, but by
experimentation, my most successful work was where the mould (bark) adhered to the glass
forming carbonised unique markings.
Most pods were 30 x 30 cm. because I was limited by the kiln size but I was interested in
experimenting with the scale of my work. I achieved this by placing the pods on to an overhead
projector on to a wall. This gave me the scope to manipulate the image of the pod from very
27
small to very large. I noted that projecting the pod on to the wall resulted into transformation
from a three dimensional sculpture to a two dimensional ephemeral image giving a
magnification of the glyphs.
Figure 49. J.Matthews Phyllis Palmer Gallery ʻTransformation of glass podʼ on overhead projector.
Review at Bendigo 2010
Photographer J.Matthews.
I did not see these pods as finished works, but found them as a developmental step towards
new works. I chose to call the markings on my glass pods ʻGlyphsʼ, a hieroglyphic character or
symbol that uses pictures and symbols to represent sounds and words, especially in ancient
writings.
33
The glyphs in (Fig.47) Glass Podʼ. were the first markings on my glass pods. It was the
successful replication of nature through mediation that the carbonised markings of nature
appeared to me reminiscent of Chinese calligraphy. Researching Chinese calligraphy and
alchemy became the catalyst which had a formative influence on my work. Chinese alchemy
required the elements to die before transformation occurs. By using a kiln, glass and bark to
emulate a wild bushfire, which transforms through extreme heat these elements into a replica of
marks made by nature.
Alchemy was an early system of thinking about nature that contributed to the development of
the modern science of chemistry. It was popular in China in the Middle Ages (400-1450) not on
transmutation - the changing of the metals into gold but for the search for longevity 34.
Referring to alchemy as a pursuit of discovering the secret of longevity interested me as I was
endeavoring to mediate change of the ephemeral marks of nature into a permanent state with
the use of glass and extreme heat. This transformation would allow me to make more work with
the luxury of time, for example to draw and study these traits in depth rather than photograph.
33
http://www.ancientscripts.com/chinese.html. Accessed 03/08/11
34
http://www.scienceclarified.com/A-Al/Alchemy.html. Accessed 11/05/11
28
I researched Chinese Calligraphy and learnt that in Chinese early writings35 the characters were
originally pictures of people, animals or other things, but over the centuries they have become
increasingly abstract, the markings shown in (Fig.50) Chinese Writing appear to me to be similar
to the marks in my glass pods.
Figure 50. ʻChinese Writingʼ (ca 1150-771) Oracle Bone Inscription
Chinese philosophy caused their art to be based on five elements, the same five elements of
nature I was using; wood (bark) from a tree, fire representing a kiln, earth being sand in glass,
air captured in the glass pod, space the area between the shadows of glyphs and the
sandblasted glyphs on single glass. In keeping with the Chinese format I decided to exhibit five
of my best works from each new successful experiment for my final Masters of Visual Art
exhibition.
I was driven to develop the images from my pods further by drawing the calligraphic glyphs on a
scroll of Chinese hand made paper, selected because the glyphs had an appearance of early
Chinese writings. I chose to use only black ink to keep to the format of Chinese Calligraphy and
early Chinese painting as much as possible.
Figure 51. J.Matthews ʻGlyphsʼ Taken from pods, for scroll. Ink on paper
35
http://www.logoi.com/notes/chinese_origins.html. Accessed 11/05/11
29
Figure 52. J.Matthews ʻMapping traitsʼ taken from the glass pods, Ink on paper, 15 X 21 cm
Figure 53. J.Matthews ʻMapping traitsʼ taken from the glass pods. Ink on paper, 15 x 21 cm
Figure 54. J.Matthews ʻMapping traitsʼ on glass pod (Detail)
30
Figure 55. J.Matthews ʻReview at Phyllis Palmer Gallery Bendigoʼ 2010. Original Scroll on wall and glass
pods on floor
Figure 56. J.Matthews. ʻFive scrolls of glyphsʼ Ink on paper, 2011
I made another scroll of calligraphic glyphs on paper but overlapped the glyphs into a more
interesting composition (Fig 56), arranging the glyphs across the picture plane to give a feeling
of an elegant rhythm and an illusion to a written secret language that only the privileged could
decipher. I then had the scrolls professionally printed into one five metre continuous length.
I divided the five metre printed scroll into six templates and arranged with a local firm to
sandblast the images on to clear glass 43 x 43 cm. I retained the square format as Chinese
Writing is in blocks. Again I have made work that embraces the notion of transformation through
mediation by using two dimensional glass panels to produce ephemeral shadows of glyphs. By
using clear glass and installing these glass panels 30 mm out from the wall with the correct side
lighting will give the viewer ephemeral shadows of glyphs. I made six of these but chose only
five for my final Master of Visual Art exhibition as the Chinese favoured number five.
31
Figure 57. J.Matthews. Template for sandblasted glyphs on glass. Graphite on paper, 43 x 43 cm.
Figure 58. J.Matthews Sandblasted glyphs on glass (Portrait)
Figure 59. J.Matthews. Sandblasted glyphs on glass (Landscape)
32
In his book Dark Writings, Paul Carter discusses Chinese Calligraphy as creative painting:
“...the “abstract beauty” of the calligrapherʼs line depends on its embodying a
movement; “no Chinese character exactly represents a living thing, yet the main
principle of composition is in every case a balance and poise similar to that of a
figure standing, walking, dancing, or executing some other lively movement.”
36
I went back to the single layer of glass and bark I made earlier (Fig.46) and thought it had so
much promise that I would try and experiment with a large single piece of glass slumped over
bark. I liked the simplicity of this work, although it had not been transformed into a hermetically
sealed pod, it conveyed to me a more pleasing aesthetic. I wanted to increase the scale of my
work to give the viewer a different experience. The largest piece of glass I could fire in a kiln in
Mildura was 35 x 35 cm.
I resolved the problem by an unusual circuitous route. Driving from Mildura to Canberra to the
Art Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference (AAANZ), on November 2009 I visited
the Wagga Wagga Glass Gallery. Here I viewed a Retrospective Exhibition titled “Into the Fourth
Decade” by Dr. Gerry King.
I was impressed with Kingʼs excellent technique in glass demonstrated by a wide range of art
work from a beautiful glass Red Dress to layered glass in an architectural style sculpture. I
contacted him to see if he would do a work-shop, as I was interested in making large glass
sculptures, using natural materials.
Figure 60. Gerry King. ʻBarossa Valley ʻ2011, Kiln formed glass, 200 x 630 mm
To my delight, King agreed to holding a workshop in November 2010 and arrangements were
made to have five days in his Adelaide studio and a follow up a few months later. The results
were seven works of kiln fired bark and glass, 43 x 94 cm, of which I chose five for my final
Masters of Visual Art exhibition.
In the book Dark Writing, by Paul Carter c.2009, University of Hawaiʼi Press. Printed in the United
States of America. P107.
36
33
Figure 61. Placing bark onto paper and mediating the process by firing with glass in a kiln.
Photographer D.James
Figure 62. Glass and bark ready for firing in kiln
Figure 63. Glass and bark in large kiln
34
Figure 64. J.Matthews. Bark after firing in kiln. 43 x 94 cm
King thought I may be interested in contacting Lubomir Ferko, a glass artist from Slovakia
whose works include monumental sculptures in cast glass, including text, which added an
additional dimension to his work.
Although my work is not of the scale of Ferkoʼs, I was so interested, I contacted him and invited
him from the other side of the world in Slovakia to Mildura. Fortunately he was going to be at a
residency in Tasmania near this time and so arrangements were made with La Trobe University,
Mildura campus for a visit.
Figure 65. Lubomir Ferko. ʻMy Commandmentʼ Crystal glass, H72 cm, 1996 Photo Galleria Artterre,
Eleiska Daralova, Kamil a Tomas Vyskocil. Catalogue “Thus Spake the Prophets”
35
Figure 66. J.Matthews. Glass pod (detail) calligraphic markings.
Ferkoʼs sculpture ʻ My Commandmentʼ sustains a powerful notion of spirituality as Ferko has
moulded layers of blue crystal glass to include Arabic text. This sustains the illusion of
spirituality by use of the colour blue due to its association with heaven. It was Ferkoʼs
methodology that appealed to me, as my work also seeks to present the glyphs of a unique
visual language of nature through the medium of sculptural glass.
Figure 67. J.Matthews ʻA unique visual language of natureʼ (Detail). glass, bark.
Figure 68. J.Matthews ʻDendritic marks frottaged on glassʼ (Detail)
Photographer D.Hobbs.
36
Ferko was influenced by the course of history and human writings of the Old Testament, from
the Arabic Koran and the Latin New Testament. By contrast my work has been influenced by
natureʼs scriblings of ripples, dendritic forms, and catsʼ paws.
Lubomir Ferko presented me with his catalogue titled ʻThus Spake the Prophetsʼ from which I
have taken a small translation by Ph. Dr. Jan Pauliny, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy,
Comenius University, Bratislava. Slovakia.
ʻIn the works of art Lubomir Ferko has fashioned from glass he shares with us the
inner experience that derives from knowing sacred and religious texts which arose
in different times in kindred spiritual and historical circumstances. He has fused into
glass excerpts from the Old Testament, from the Arabic Koran and the Latin New
Testament, and in doing so has presented to us three ancient scripts in all their
calligraphic beauty.ʼ37
Figure 69. J.Matthews. ʻFrottaged from natureʼ (Detail)
Another artist who works with glass, Janet Laurence, whose works are closely allied to
architecture, culture and nature, also experiments with layering within glass. She has created
small pieces of the environment, by placing a variety of natural materials such as pine cones,
spices, leaves and other organic matter inside glass blown egg-shaped spheres. Gabriella
Bisetto, a glass blower who collaborated with Laurence, explained this process:
“while blowing glass at a temperature of about 1150C, organic material was
inserted into one end of the egg-shaped sphere-like a ship in a bottle. When the
eggs were closed the pine cones and other organic objects began to burn.
Although reduced to carbon they still held their form inside the spheres,”
37
38
Lubomir Ferko catalogue “Thus Spake the Prophets.” P.45
www.unisa.edu.au/unisanews/2008/June/feature.aspCached
Janet Laurence and Gabriella Bisetto in the Ceramic access 01/09/11
38
37
Figure 70. Janet Laurence with Gabriella Bisetto using the hot glass medium. 39
39
ibid. Accessed on 01/09/11
38
Chapter 3
Natureʼs Language of Glyphs
In Fig. 67 titled ʻ A unique visual language of nature.ʼ shows clearly the effect of the process of
alchemy in three different ways; the bark holding its form although it has diminished in size; the
indentations on the glass showing the original size of the bark; and the frottaged carbon
markings on the glass pod.
I started to focus on the dendritic forms in the pods mediated by fire. Extreme heat of fusion
transformed the bark into charcoal markings within the glass. This transformation was the
manifestation of the unique visual language of glyphs.
Artist Christine Grishin alias G.W.Bot, born in Pakistan now lives in Australia explains why she
uses a different name for exhibiting“According to Aboriginal totemic belief, each member of a clan inherits a totemic relationship
with a particular plant or animal of the region. I like this idea of oneness with the environment.
Where I live wombats are especially prevalent and they have become my totemic animal. The
earliest written reference to a wombat occurs in a French source where it is called "le grand
Wam Bot," and hence my exhibiting name - G.W. Bot”.
When I first viewed the images of G.W.Botʼs glyphs, I was surprised and I must admit a little
disappointed as I had hoped I had been the first to discover these glyphs made by nature. On
closer examination, I noticed Bot works within the environment, to form abstract images and
sculptures to represent nature. She writes: Glyphs constitute a language suggested by the
markings found in the Australian landscape. 40 She has taken her images from the markings from
the weathered fence posts, from the bark from trees, particularly the scribbly gum, and states
how she feels almost like a medium through which the scribblings of nature are recorded.41
40 Smith
41
ibid.
Jason, Field of Glyphs G.W.Bot , Hart Gallery,London.
39
Figure 71. Image taken from the front cover of G.W. Botʼs catalogue “Field of Glyphs”. Bucilic glyphs, 2009;
Watercolour and graphite on Colombe paper, 105 x 198 cm
Photographer by Brenton McGeachie
The following statement about Botsʼ work by Beaver Galleries, Canberra:
“Her glyphs are signs and symbols of natural elements that communicate her
connectedness with the Australian landscape, forming a unique language for Bot to
employ intuitively. In a most basic observation, they are evocative of branches and
twigs, and have also been likened to the moth tracks on scribbly gums. Yet her
glyphs operate via the links of allusion and association to form abstract
landscapes, or more elusively, a map of almost cosmological markings, mapping
out the progression of time, seasons or natural events. The arrangements of glyphs
becomes an ancient language of the land, encouraging interpretation on an
intuitive level.” 42
Figure 72. G.W.Bot ʻBush Glyphsʼ 2008 watercolour and graphite on Colombe paper, 100 x 120 cm
Photographer Brenton McGeachie
Botʼs methodology differs from mine; she states that she is a medium; this allows her to directly
translate natures marks into images. My process involves recreating the forces of nature, using
a kiln, glass and bark to emulate a wild fire which transforms through extreme heat these
42
http;//www.beavergalleries.com.au/bot.htm. Accessed 20/07/10
40
elements into a replica of marks made by nature. This intervention results in permanent objects
which I can use for research, applying perceptual drawing techniques to make calligraphic
glyphs into scrolls (Fig.74) ʼGlyphs.
Bot works in the relative mediated lushness of Canberra, a cool moist climate in winter where
natureʼs marks last for several years or more; I work in an arid landscape, where the effects of
sun, wind and rain can obliterate many of the more fragile markings. Where similarities exist is
both our methodologies seek the translation of the marks by drawing. We have both arrived at
the drawing stage by different processes; consequently the images that we produce have their
own differences and unique traits.
During my investigation I had noted the different markings in the glass pods. The first glass pod
had strong, almost sharp edged glyphs and the second successful glass pod was marked with
gestural or mapping type of traits. Other pods had both these markings in varying strengths.
Indentations on the glass surfaces of the pods are determined by the structure of the bark when
being slumped. This gave me a variety of glyphs to work with. Bot became the most important
artist in my research, as she also is working with natureʼs glyphs, while drawing has been the
chosen studio methodology for both of us, our finished work has a similar imagery, but different
media, Bot works mainly on paper where I work on paper and glass!
Figure 73. J.Matthews. First pod I fired showing calligraphic markings
41
Figure 74. J.Matthews. ʻGlyphsʼ 5 scrolls. Ink on paper
Figure 75. G.W.Botʼs ʻResurrection glyphsʼ Midday 2009, linocut on Koran Hanji paper, 62 X 94 cm
Photographer Brenton McGeachie
Figure 76. J.Matthews ʻMapping traitsʼ taken from glass pod. Graphite on paper, 8 x 8 cm
42
Figure 77. J.Matthews. Markings taken from glass pod. Graphite on paper, 8 x 8 cm
43
Chapter 4
Collaborations with Nature
The literal meaning of collaboration is the action of working with someone (or nature) to produce
or create some other result. In the past the Pleistocene people were possibly inspired by nature
and the environment approximately 1.7 million to 11,000 years ago. Humans painted on cave
walls and ceilings by using the concave and convex curvatures of the walls representing horned
bull-like species giving a third dimensional narrative of nature at its best.
Figure 78. ʻLascaux Cave IIʻ, France
Photographer unknown.
It is not known the reason for this art; whether it was for communication, religious or ceremonial
purposes, but it was associated with nature.43 The cave in Lascaux France II is a good example
of how nature has inspired artists over seventeen thousands years ago. This same inspiration
and close association with nature and the environment is still happening today by artist
collaborating with nature such as Cameron Robbins a Melbourne based artist who collaborates
with the natural elements to create his art.
This collaboration with nature, depends on the vagaries of the weather, especially the wind, as
he uses a machine with a drawing arm of his own creation to dispense blue ink to produce his
art. If there is no wind, there is no art; vice a versa, if there is too much wind there is also no art.
This can happen as the drawing machine can take over a three week period to produce an
image. Again if it is too wet the art is washed away, so that Robbins must keep watch, and when
the weather is not conducive to the machine he has to stop and start again.
43
Pleistocene - definition and meaning. Accessed 09/05/11
44
Figure 79. Cameron Robbbins ʻDrawing from Machineʼ after 15 hours
Photographer Cameron Robbins.
Figure 80. Cameron Robbins ʻSolar- powered Drawing Machineʼ 2011
Photographer Gallery Barry Keldoulis posted by Celia Mortlock
44
Cameron Robbins uses the wind and the sun to power his latest experimental creative drawing
machine. It is a similar process to his earlier work (Fig79) Drawing from Machine, but it is
dependent on the solar powered drum and the wind where previously it was the wind or the rain
that was the limiting factor. When the sun goes down the images stop; the complete opposite to
Harry Nankinʼs work; for when the sun goes down his images come alive by the flashlights and
his shadowgrams capturing images of nature. In my projections (Fig.81) ʻFrottage Imageʼ when
the light comes on the glass pod projects the frottaged image of the bark; when the light goes
out my shadows of glyphs disappear.
Figure 81. J.Matthews. ʻFrottaged imageʼ of glyphs projected on wall
44
www.fbiradio.com/.../canvas-cameron-robbins-at-gallery-barry-keld... - Cached. Accessed 09/05/11
45
John Wolseley and I have both collaborated with nature by the actions we have taken through
the process of our art work. John Wolseley states:
ʻWhen a picture is born through accident or collaboration, rather than exclusively as
a result of a self-conscious act, it seems to have a greater ʻvalidityʼ.45
He is an environmentalist and has travelled, painted and worked all over the continent. He will
camp out often for days or weeks at a time painting and drawing on paper, then he tears the
piece of art work in half keeping half to take home to his studio and buries the remaining half
(Fig.82) ʻBuried Paintingʼ the earth or under a rock and may collect the drawing in a few months
or even a year later. 46
Figure 82. John Wolseley ʻBuried Painting on paperʼ near Mt.Gunson 1991-92
Photographer Terence Bogu
After Wolseley retrieves the buried paper he combines the two pieces displaying the differences
between the buried piece, which has been marked by the earth, insects, animals and all of
natureʼs elements, and the piece of paper he took home to his studio. The exposed piece this
collaboration between nature is a process that Wolseley appears to enjoy, the experience of the
land and everything connected to it. By keeping one section of his own work and the other a
collaboration between nature and himself, is he making a comparison to share his experience of
natures language and environment with the viewer in the gallery?
45
Landmarks.John Wolseley, c 1998, Craftsman House, Tower A 112 Talavera Road, North Ryde, Sydney
NSW 2113 P125.
46 Landmarks John Wolseley, c 1998, Craftsman House, Tower A 112 Talavera Road, North Ryde,
Sydney NSW 2113 P124.
46
Figure 83. John Wolseley. Buried Painting (complete) Mount Gunson 1991-92
Water colour-coloured pencil, pencil and charcoal 54 x 38 cm
Photographer Terence Bogue
Other times he has thrown 70 pieces of paper into the desert wind to wait for nature to make her
ephemeral marks in the environment. We could read these pieces of art, as I have in my works
as a language left by drought, fire or flood. Wolseley returns later to find the papers have been
imprinted by natures marks, some by burnt bark from the branches of trees after a fire.
47
Figure 84. John Wolseley ʻLandscape within Landscapeʼ 1992 crayon and gouche on paper 57 x 38 cm.
Collection of the artist
Photographer Terence Bogue
47 Landmarks Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, 180 St.Kilda Road, Melbourne
Victoria 3004 P124
47
Figure 85. J.Matthewsʻ Carbonised markingsʼ glass and bark, 30 x 30 cm
Figure 86. Sand dunes at Perry Sandhills near Mildura in the Mallee
Like the location for my art, Wolseley is interested in a total experience of the Mallee country;
the wetlands, swamps and creeks as well as the desertʼs dry arid regions. In 1993, he wrote:
“I have been trying to understand sand dunes – their layering, their rhythms and
movements and their cyclic developments which have the structure and elegance
of a complex mathematical theory. Often I have been camped in the swale of some
huge longitudinal dune and during the night, the wind from some unusual quarter
has quarried down through several strata of sand and revealed hidden layers of
great antiquity...”
48
48 Landmarks, Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, 180 St.Kilda Road, Melbourne
Victoria 3004 P79.
48
Figure 87. Aerial photograph of sand dunes over Central Australia
These dunes Wolseley has written about could have been the same dunes which inspired me to
explore those natural forms for my Masters of Visual Art by Research. My observation of these
forms was from a photograph I had taken from the air, where Wolseleysʼ were from within the
landscape.
The description by John Wolseleyʼs return to the Mallee for his project the “Big Scrub” describes
the black calligraphic marks of nature with the following:
“Instead of glittering leaves I found the effects of extensive bush fires. The
branches of burnt Mallee stems formed a black calligraphy on the pure white sand
which stretched from where I stood for a hundred miles.”49
Figure 88. John Wolseley. Painting of black burnt Mallee tree stump. 221x 330 cm
Photographer J. Wolseley
49
www.johnwolseley.net. Accessed 07/05/11
49
Figure 89. John Wolseley ʻCollaborating with natureʻ
Photographer John Wolseley
John Wolseley standing with large roll of paper frottaging the surface of the burnt branches after
a fire, collaborating with nature to make his art work. It is interesting to note that Wolseleyʼs
marks (Fig. 89) ʻCollaborating with natureʼ are very similar to the marks on my glass sculpture
(Fig.91)ʼBark and Glassʼ
Figure 90. ʻEphemeral Barkʼ (Acacia) before firing in kiln to produce a glass sculpture
Figure 91. J.Matthews ʻBark and Glassʼ after firing in kiln (Detail)
Single layer of glass, 43 x 94 cm
Wolseley suggests in his introduction to the book, ʻLandmarksʼ:
ʻI genuinely feel that the land here has not really been painted yet - except by some
singular artists and, of course, Aboriginal ones, and this is because weʼve imposed
European or other foreign models on something most peculiarly different.” 50
50
Landmarks Introduction c 1998, Craftsman House, Tower A 112 Talavera Road, North Ryde, Sydney
NSW 2113 P.2
50
This remark by Wolesley reflects his way of looking at the landscape (I wonder if he has
changed his thoughts about his painting) since his arrival in Australia. I also look at landscape
differently from the way I did years earlier. I feel it is the experience of life: our personality, which
dictates to us how we paint, feel and or see when we are creating art whether painting, drawing,
or installation. This allows our practice to develop as we grow as visual people.
Wolseley has a unique way of portraying the environment by its entirety, including the things that
live in it. He would have felt the solitude, and the spirit of the environment when camping out in
the bush. As he states:
“The opportunity to approach the landscape from a different and surprising angle
occurred by chance while I was working in the Curra Moors Royal National Park,
near Sydney after the bush fires of 2001. I was working on a drawing of some burnt
Banksia, Isopogon and Silky Needle-Bush trees when chance intervened and
suggested an alternative way of art making, and stated “this was a significant
breakthrough. A large piece of paper was blown from where I was working and
crashed onto the burnt Isopogon leaving carbonised markings on the paper. From
here I then tried replicating natures marks by placing paper onto the burnt bushes.”
51
Figure 92 J.Matthews ʻNatureʼs Frottagingʼ (Detail)
Wolseley has collaborated with nature, using drawing by the environment, discovering a new
way of frottaging to replicating natureʼs marks. By mediating the glass and extreme heat I have
been able to transform the fragile bark into dendritic formations embedded into the glass; these
marks replicate the traits made by nature after a bush fire.
51
“Self portrait of a bushfire” Landmarks 11 P.190
51
Australian Aboriginal people communicated orally and visually, responding to nature by painting
on their bodies, drawing in the sand or on bark, and sometimes recorded in sacred caves in
conjunction with stories, ceremonies and singing the land. The imagery which was sacred,
belonged to each clan and was passed down at an appropriate time to other clan members.
Figure 93. ʻFinger Flutingsʼ Yaranda Cave, Portland
Photographer Robert G. Bednarik
In Australia, the Yaranda Cave, near Portland, Victoria, is a cave gallery of markings from
Aboriginal fingers being dragged across the soft surface of the ceiling. These are known as
finger flutings, and are over 20,000 years old 52. These traits are fossilised abstract patterns that
cover the interior of the cave. Similar to the Lascaux Caves, France and the Yaranda Caves,
Australia, the scientists and archeologists do not know the reason or the meaning of the finger
fluting marks, but clearly both caves are prehistoric places of communication. The finger flutings
have a similar appearance to the dendritic marks in my glass, (Fig 94)ʼʼSimilar markings to
Finger flutingsʼ.
Figure 94. J.Matthews, Similar markings to Finger Flutings (Detail) Single layer of Glass, Bark
“The sand of the desert is like pages of a book to the people who know how to
interpret the marks made by the untold variety of animals, birds and insects that
walk over it. Desert children learned to read these pages very early. They also
used the sand as their own drawing board. With their fingers or a twig they learned
to draw imitation tracks of living things, from human beings to insects. 53
52
ref.mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/cara13/shared_files/Oz_cave_art.pdf -- Similar. Accessed 20/11/10
53
“You call it desert - we used to live there.” Pat Lowe P.33
52
These images, explaining the laws of the land, were ephemeral as they would brush the sand
away when finished drawing their stories. The children would often trace a variety of designs on
a canvas called ʻwarla ʼ which is a damp clay pan. This excited the children as their designs
would last until the next rain which could be months away.
Figure 95. Jimmy Pike showing how children used to draw realistic tracks in the desert
Photographer Pat Lowe
The Australian Aboriginal artist Jimmy Pike, was a Walmajarri man, born near Japinka, a water
hole in the Great Sandy Desert.54 In (Fig.96) ʻJilli Sandhilsʼ, Pike has painted the sand hills as
an aerial view mapping out the different contours of the land. Similar to my glass pod (Fig.97)
Figure 96. Jimmy Pike, ʻJiljiʼ Sandhills ,aerial view. Texta colour on paper
Photographer Pat Lowe
54
You call it desert - we used to live there. By Pat Lowe P156
53
Figure 97. J.Matthews Glass pod showing mapping traits
Another Australian Aboriginal artist whose work is similar to Jimmy Pikesʼ is Emily Kame
Kngwarreye, who was an Anmatyerre women, a senior elder who lived on the edge of the
Utopia cattle station of North East of Alice Springs.
In Kngwarreyeʼs painting (Fig. 98) Big Yam Dreaming the gestural lines are mapping the land
resembling nature similar to the glyphs in my glass pod (Fig.99) ʻPod showing connectedness to
the landscapeʼ. In the landscape it is a dendritic form of a river which maps the water course.
Kngwarreye would sit down either in the middle or on the edge of a large canvas, using her
upper body and with strong sweeping, gestural lines, she would paint with a wonderful sense of
style and feeling. Kngwarreyeʼs work is often compared to Jackson Pollockʼs large action
paintings.55
Figure 98. Emily Kngwarreye. ʻBig Yam Dreamingʼ 1995. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
55
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/ jackson pollock. Accessed 05/05/11
54
Figure 99. J.Matthews. ʻPod showing connectedness to the landscape.ʻ
“Big Yam Dreaming” (Fig.98) is an innate image taken from nature in the form of the land
cracking under the pressure of the yam. Where Kngwarreye has drawn with paint it is the
mediation with nature (bark) which has frottaged these unique calligraphic traits on my glass
pods through the process of alchemy.
Figure 100. J.Matthews ʻ Calligraphic traitsʼ Glass Pod (Detail) Bark
In (Fig.100) ʼCalligraphic traitsʼ, the calligraphic traits in my work were mediated through the
process of alchemy and natural materials (bark), not by human hand as in Jackson Pollockʼs
approach to his large action paintings.
Jackson Pollock was an American artist who became interested in painting in an abstract
manner and by the mid 1940ʼs he was painting on large canvases fixed to the floor just as Emily
Kngwarreye did later in the 1970ʼs.
In Pollockʼs painting ʻNumber 28ʼ (Fig.102) with its traces of drawings in black and yellow which
have been obfuscated deliberately like a palimpsest with the top layer being black calligraphic
55
traits taking up completely all the picture plane. This is not unlike Emily Kngarreyeʼs (Fig.98) ʻBig
Yam Dreamingʼ where her calligraphic, sweeping free flowing marks also take up the complete
picture plane. Kngwarreyeʼs abstractions have hidden cultural narratives where the form is
equal to the spiritual and in combination make the whole. Unlike Pollockʼs where his spiritual
and expression were equal, but has no meaning in form or representation.
One of the critics of the day Harold Rosenberg called Pollockʼs painting as:
"action painting" - rarely permitted the brush to directly touch the canvas. "On the
floor I am more at ease," he said. "I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since
this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the
painting." Pollock's work thus became as much about process as they were about
product. They became a record of the performance of painting - his play in and
around the canvas, where he could enter them as a participant and hover above
them as their creator. "There is no accident," Pollock once said, "just as there is no
beginning or end. Sometimes I lose a painting, but I have no fear of changes, of
destroying the image, because a painting has a life of its own.56
I am interested in the process of creating art and as Pollock stated: ʻa painting has a life of its
own.ʼ and I can say, in my work, the glass sculptures have a ʻ mind of their ownʼ, as there is no
way I can change my work as I am the mediator only and it is the process of nature and
alchemy which produces the traits on my glass.
Pollock would use house paints from a can and pour or splash paint over the canvas, using a
stick instead of a brush. It was the action of the doing, the performance of creating the work that
Pollock enjoyed, the process was the most important factor. This type of painting allowed the
artist to create gestural lines in a unified manner. There is a similarity of strong all over lines
between my image Calligraphic Traits (Fig.99), Kngwarreyeʼs Big Yam Dreaming (Fig. 98) and
Pollockʼs Number 28 (Fig.102).
It is the process of creating the work that I enjoy about my art, the act of going to the bush, to
collect the red gum bark from a tree and return to the kiln to fire the bark and glass, wait for it to
cool and then and only then you know if it has been successful or a complete failure. My
process is the reverse to Pollockʼs process where he has the control see Jackson Pollock
painting in Summerʼ(Fig.101)57 showing Pollock standing in the painting directing the paint
although I believe there is a point of chance through gravity and lateral forces combined.
Rosenberg quotes ʻPollock as stating, “There is no accident."
56.
57
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-pollock-jackson.htm. Accessed 07/05/11
ibid
56
Figure 101. Jackson Pollock painting in Summer 1950
Photographer Hans Namuth
57
Chapter 5
Mediation and the Ephemeral
Jackson Pollockʼs approach to art differs from my work as he is part of the performance, by way
of standing on the canvas, moving from one area to another and throwing the paint down on the
canvas (Fig.101) to produce an imposing painting of calligraphic traits. He has the complete
control of his artwork, where I have little control of my work and depend on the mediation of
alchemy to enable the ephemeral marks in the environment to be transformed into a permanent
state within an hermetically sealed glass pod.
Figure 102 ʻ Number 28ʼ Jackson Pollock, Enamel on canvas 173 x 266.7 cm
Photograph http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/
Harry Nankin an Australian photographer and environmental artist explores new ways of
traditional photographic processes.58 According to Nankin, his artworks:
“are attempting to record natureʼs unmediated image, hence his shadowgrams,
which allow organisms in their natural environment to ʻrepresent themselvesʼ by
recording their presence through shadow.” 59
Nankinʼs environmental project, ʻContactʼ 60 saw the use of shadowgrams to record the flora and
fauna located on a small block of land known as the Meringur Flora and Fauna Reserve in a
semi arid woodland in the Mallee.61 Here Nankin has used translucent film instead of the
photographic paper he used for “Waves” a previous project. There were two different processes
used, one plein air shadowgrams where Nankin would spend time during the day to set up the
specialized flash lights and filters, and at night over a period of time record living vegetation,
58
http://www.harrynankin.com/bio.htm 20/09/10
59
http://www.harrynankin.com/pr7.htm. Accessed 20/09/10
60 ibid
61
ibid
58
animal marks, and rain drops. He would then roll up the film and send it away to be
professionally developed. The second shadowgram called positive (tonally reversed) would be
sandwiched together and then the films would all be layered together and processed chemically
to produce a transparent, image of beautiful patterns of nature. Nankin called this project
ʻContactʼ and states-
“Contact is fundamentally about: the difficulty of conceiving -let alone experiencingan emotionally intimate or spiritually meaningful relationship with nature in a
secular, consumer culture.” 62
My carbonised mediated pods have enabled me to record on the glass charcoal markings just
as Harry Nankin has done on his shadowgrams. There is a similarity between my image
(Fig.103.) Natures Frottaging and Nankinʼs image (Fig.104) Contact Quadrat 8.
Figure 103. J.Matthews ʻNatures Frottagingʼ (Detail)
Figure 104. Harry Nankin ʻContactʼ Quadrat 8 Night, October 25, 2003 shadowgram.
62
ibid
59
Figure 105. Harry Nankin ʻContactʼ Meringur Flora and Fauna Reserve.
Photographer Harry Nankin
Figure 106. J.Matthews Temporary shadows of glyphs on wall
Although Nankinʼs process is different to mine I feel there is a connection when I project my
image from the pod to the wall by using glass and optics, it becomes a shadow of glyphs, just as
Nankin uses the flash-light at night for his shadowgrams to capture nature and has these printed
later. The same can be said about my projected pods; when the light is gone, the viewer is
separated from the image on the wall but the marks of nature are still there, permanently etched
in my glass pods just as Nankinʼs images are permanent on his transparent film. We have both
made art by mediation with the natural elements.
Ephemeral means having a short life span, like the variations of the weather, the cycles of
wetting and drying of wetlands or Ripples, Dendritic forms and Catʼs Paws on the surfaces of
land and water. These are natureʼs recordings of ecological phenomena created by the
movement wind, sand and water.
Artists like English born Andy Goldsworthy, an environmental and ephemeral sculptor now
residing in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, uses the natural surroundings to create art forms.
63
He
started working with “formless works”, meaning that he did not use any tools, the work being
made from available environmental materials e.g. trees, branches and leaves. He documents
63
Hand to Earth Andy Goldsworthy.P. 11
60
his ephemeral sculptures by photographing his work during creation, on completion, and as it
decays. Because of the time span and nature of the materials it is important to photograph
these sculptures at their climax and before entropy starts to set in. Being ephemeral, the work
will have a life of its own, from the very beginning to the apex and then it decays (Fig.107)Black
Stone.
Figure 107. Andy Goldsworthy. ʻ Black Stoneʼ, 1994
Photographer Andy Goldsworthy
ʻBlack Stoneʼ (Fig.107) a work produced at Dumfriesshire in 1994 appears to represent a person
sitting contemplating the starkness of the scenery but instead, it is a stone which has been
covered in black peat. The stone stands alone in solitude and silence, its blackness and shape
causing it to stand out from it's severe surroundings. Goldsworthy describes his process:
"At its most successful, my 'touch' looks into the heart of nature; most days I don't
even get close. These things are all part of a transient process that I cannot
understand unless my touch is also transient-only in this way can the cycle remain
unbroken and the process be complete." Because of this mortality of nature, "Each
work grows, stays, decays - integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows
at its height, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity
about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay
are implicit." 64
64
Hand to Earth Andy Goldsworthy P.11
61
Figure 108. Andy Goldsworthy, ʻIciclesʼ, Scaur Water, Dumfriesshire 12 January 1987
Photographer A.Goldsworthy
Goldsworthy further states, in describing the creation of ʻiciclesʼ (Fig 108).
ʻ“thick end dipped in snow then water held until frozen together, occasionally using
forked sticks as support until stuck (until itʼs held in place). A tense moment when
taking them away, breathing on the stick first to release it.”65
He preferred working alone outside in the cold weather to the warmth of a studio. The weather
was a very important factor as he investigated how to work with the ice and freezing
temperatures and the time it would take to melt the ice. Goldsworthy used water not only for
light reflections but for adhering leaves to trees and carving sand and stated “water has
reflected properties and can be used in combination with light for particular effects.” 66 Because
Goldsworthy is outside in the environment, often without power, he photographs the
combination of water and sun for his lighting effects. As my work is inside I capture similar
reflections but it is in the glass, the optical phenomenon and the reflected light I refer to for my
effects e.g. (Fig 109). Glass is similar to water in appearance, transparent and reflecting light.
65
P.11 Hand to Earth Andy Goldsworthy
66
P. 17 ibid
62
Figure 109. J.Matthews. Pod showing how well glass reflects light. Similar in appearance to water
Figure 110. Andy Goldsworthy. Chestnut leaves, creased and folded held with thorns,
1998 Drumlanrig, Dumfiesshire
Photographer Andy Goldworthy
Goldsworthy likes to keep to a theme or style for some time and keeps returning to the same
area sometimes returning in a week or maybe the following season. It appears to be the making
of the art, the process, which he enjoys more than the length of time the sculpture will last. You
can see how important his use of photography is by the photographs above when the sculpture
is at its climax (Fig.110) ʻ Chestnut Leavesʼ. The tree on the left, shows no leaves missing, but
the photograph on the right has shown many leaves missing, possibly due to the weather or
animals brushing past. This example exemplifies Goldsworthyʼs fascination with growth, stasis
and decay.”
67
67
P 11 Hand to Earth Andy Goldsworthy
63
Entropy is a process similar to ephemeral art where the art work goes into a decline and cannot
be restored back to the original state similar to Andy Goldsworthy art.
Many artists have used the detritus, the thrown away scraps of modern society, the discards to
create their artworks, both from an economic perspective (the low cost of such materials) and a
political viewpoint (making comment on the current state of society).
Figure 111. Gilberto Zorio ʻBurnt Writingʼ 1968-9, electrically heated copper plate, wire cage, copper writing
desk, paper, invisible ink, pen
Photographer Guy Brett
Gilberto Zorio, an Italian born artist/alchemist and a sculptor, creates art which appears to be
uncomplicated and yet requires the viewer to play, an important role in ʻBurnt Writing.ʼ A heated
copper plate was installed inside a rectangular wire mesh cage. On one side of the cage was a
bent piece of copper representing a writing desk which Zorio placed a sheet of writing paper and
pen with invisible ink. This work originally had Zorio writing messages on the paper and then he
dropped the paper on to the heated copper plate. Due to the heating, the words became visible
for a few seconds, until the paper burnt and the writing disappeared. I can imagine the viewers
watching this performance, wondering what he was going to write on the paper as he holds the
paper blank, with no marking on the paper, but then drops it on the heated plate and all is
revealed for a moment then it burns. 68
P 170 Arte PoveraChristov-Bakargiev Carolyn, Arte Povera c.1999. Phaiden Press Limited,
Regentʼs Wharf, All Sants Street, London N19PA
68
64
Figure 112. J.Matthews ʻ Entropyʼ Single layer of glass over bark
Although my materials in my work started out as natural ephemeral material (bark), by slumping
single layers of glass over bark, it became transformed, and some bark adhered to the glass,
not unlike Zorioʼs work with the paper burnt and all was returned to ashes. It was the
performance and process of Zorioʼs work which impacted his audience, whereas my audience
will be able to view the patterns in nature as a unique visual language of the land encouraging
their own interpretation of Ripples, Dendritic Forms and Catsʼ Paws.
What encourages me to create work, is the process of entropy. At no time can I be certain that I
will be successful when the ephemeral material used is transformed and burned, for the
outcome is always unknown until the final moment when I take the glass and bark out of the
kiln. In (Fig. 112) titled ʻEntropyʼ some of the bark has returned to ashes and come away from
the glass, some has remained adhered to the glass, but eventually it will all come away and
return to dust, leaving a moulded clear glass sculpture of the bark.
Another Arte Povera [Art of the Poor] Artist, Giovanni Anselmo (1969) has placed a sea sponge
between two iron bars. When the temperature rises, the iron expands, imperceptibly, squeezes
the air out of the sponge. When it cools, the sponge re-absorbs the air out of the atmosphere. It
is possible to imagine the breathing of the sponge although one could not see it happen.
65
Figure 113 Giovanni Anselmo. “Breath” detail 1969 Iron, sea sponge, 905cm x 6 x 11 cm
Photographer Giovanni Anselmo
I relate Anselmoʼs work to my research about the waxing and waning of the moon, where one
revolution of the moon round the earth is completed approximately once each lunar month.69
How the phases of the moon change almost imperceptibly, it happens but we are not conscious
of it, in a similar way to changes in Anselmoʼs installation ʻBreathʼ. When the Moon, and the Sun
are in line with the Earth, the gravitational pull causes tides and these tides cause wave ripple
marks on the surface of the river or the ocean to rise to a maximum and then falls to a minimum
once in about every twelve hours and twenty five minutes. 70 This is the same principle, the
breathing affect, although it is the sun which causes the difference in temperature causing the
iron bars to expand and contract in Anselmoʼs work.
The weather plays an important factor in Earth art, Land art, or Earthworks (named by Robert
Smithson), an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960ʼs. as an
artistic protest against the commercialisation of art in the museum and gallery space. Earth Art
uses natural materials, but can employ large mechanical devices to make it. Usually located
remote areas away from the general public, the documentation becomes very important.
Sculptures are not placed in the landscape but the landscape environment creates the
sculptures. Many were ephemeral and the only record of them is by video or photographic
documentation. By photographing the work it then becomes accessible to a wider audience as
the sculptures are often remote and are usually so large that an audience would not be able to
comprehend the image unless from an aerial perspective. 71
It is almost a macro of the
Aboriginal images where they drew on the sand to communicate their stories. Their art was
drawn from an aerial perspective and Earth artʼs documentation is best seen from an aerial
perspective.
69
P.152 Dictionary of Geography,Penguin 1981.
70
P 44 Analytical Experimental Physics Lothian Publishing Co. P/L Melbourne
71
ref.http://www.andrewrogers.org/press/ Geoglyphs. Accessed 14/08/11
66
Robert Smithson was one of the most influential ʻ Earthʼ artists of his time. In 1968, before
creating his major sculptural piece ʻSpiral Jettyʼ he wrote:
“The earthʼs surface and figments of the mind have a way of disintegrating into a
discrete regions of art. Various agents, both fictional and real, somehow trade
places with each other - one cannot avoid muddy thinking when it comes to earth
projects, or what I will call ʻ abstract geologyʼ. Oneʼs mind and the earth are in
constant state of erosion, mental rivers wear away abstract banks, brain waves
undermine cliffs of thought, ideas decompose into stones of unknowing, and
conceptual crystallizations break apart into deposits of gritty reason…”
72
Robert Smithsonʼs monumental art works Spiral Jetty 1970 is located on the Great Salt Lake,
Utah. Smithson used the black basalt rocks and earth from the site to build the Jetty by creating
a spiral thread. The colour of the water is from the bacteria and algae that thrive in the extreme
27 % salinity, He began his sculpture in April 1970 and was completed within six weeks.
Figure 114 Robert Smithson ʻSpiral Jettyʼ 1970
Similarly to Smithsonʼs quote: ʻIt was the natural environment that inspired me and all of the
above.ʼ My work also reflects this sentiment written by Smithson.
The rose pink water is not unlike the colour of the ponds in the Mallee Salt Lakes near Mildura.
From the image (Fig.114) ʻSpiral Jettyʼ, it appears as one very large Ripple, spiraling out to sea,
with the salt glistening in the sun on the rocks similar to Catsʼ Paws.
Entropy is a notion which underpins Smithsonʼs art and writings and other environmental artists
including Andy Goldsworthy of 1960-70ʼs, whereby the artwork starts to decay from the moment
of creation, and cannot be retstored.
72
;P.217 A Sedimentation of the Mind: [Earth Projects] from The Writings of Robert Smithson. Art Povera.
67
Figure 115. J.Matthews ʻAbstract Geologyʼ
My work embraces the concept of process a transformation, and through mediation the bark has
become permanent but altered in the glass pod. This process places a hold on entropy and
decay which normally would take place. I have taken my work a further step by projecting the
image from the pod on to a wall and have transformed the pod into a two dimensional
ephemeral image. Where Smithsonʼs Spiral Jetty depends on the vagaries of the weather if and
when his sculpture returns, but it will be different each time due to entropy.
Smithson anticipated the lake would rise and fall, leaving the black rocks to glisten with the
white salt crystals. As the environment can change radically so too can the water level change
and this happened only two years after the sculpture was completed, mainly due to a severe
drought, at the time he made the sculpture The level of the water rose to submerge the Jetty for
several years and from time to time the level changed, exposing the basalt rocks but not leaving
them in the same state as they were. Although entropy was his idea for his sculptures did he
miscalculate the water levels as I have read or was this his plan? I like to think that he planned it
but we will never really know because of his untimely death in an airplane disaster in 1973 while
photographing a site for Amarillo Ramp, which was to be another earthworks in Texas.
Figure 116 Robert Smithson Drawing, Amarillo Ramp, 1973.9” x 12”.
Pencil collection of Estate of Robert Smithson. Courtesy of John Weber Gallery.
Photo taken from Unearthed, Robert Smithson, Drawings,Collages,Writings.
68
From the writings of Robert Smithson:
“The Artist as Site-Seer. Art a precise mind void of reason. The mind as well as the
eye belongs to art. To talk constantly “about seeing” is a linguistic problem not a
visual problem. All abstracts concepts are blind, because they do not refer back to
anything that has already been seen. The “visual” has its origin in the enigmas of
blind order - which is in a word, language. Art that depends only on the retina of the
eye, is cut off from this resevoir or paradigm of memory. When art and memory
combine, we become aware of the syntax of communication.“ 73
Figure 117. J.Matthews ʻAshes to Ashesʼ (Detail)
Image (Fig.117)ʼAshes to Ashesʼ showing increasing entropy from bark to ashes. Because this
is not a hermitically sealed pod and only a single layer of slumped glass over the bark it has not
formed into a permanent state. The dark carbon marking has adhered to the glass in parts but
the bark has returned to dust. Eventually all the dust will come away and will return to a clear
glass sculpture of the bark. (Fig 118).
73
Robert Smithson, edited by Nancy Holt, published New York University Press in 1979.P.340
69
Figure 118. J.Matthews ʻSculpture of barkʼ. Slumped Glass, Bark 43 x 94 cm
Figure 119. ʻA signature of nature.ʼ Caused by parasites under the bark of a tree
(Fig.119) ʻA signature of natureʼ - Like the calligraphy of my pods, the marks of insects etch into
trees, leaving evidence of glyphs not unlike G,W. Bottsʼ glyphs where she has taken images
from the scribbly gum. I started with the bark from a tree and have concluded (Fig.118) with a
glass sculpture, capturing the abstract ephemeral patterns of Ripples, Dendritic Forms and
Catsʼ Paws.
70
Conclusion
The elements of nature have the capacity to create fragile, fleeting marks in the environment.
These ephemeral marks known as Ripples, Dendritic Forms and Catsʼ Paws are the result of
the cyclic narrative of nature.
The interpretation of imprinted marks that remain on the landscape from the effects of the
elements of fire, flood and drought can be read as natureʼs language. The patterns produced by
the fluid motion of waves, currents or winds range from the dendritic forms of flowing water
channels and gullies to the anamorphic scorched tree. Capturing these traits, enabled me to
create a body of work that reveals how the power of nature has been a gift for me as a visual
artist.
The marks that have underpinned my studio practice are the basic systems that are part of the
visual structure from the natural world. They have a hieroglyphic (glyph) like appearance and
are represented in the smallest leaf to the largest watershed. These glyphs or marks are
present in the entire natural world.
Glass was selected because it is reflective, transparent, a solid liquid and is invisible like the
wind, it is hard and yet it looks soft, it appears as water although it is not. Glass has captured
permanently the ephemeral marks known as Ripples, Dendritic forms and Catsʼ Paw through
the mediated forms of glass and River Red Gum bark.
The glass sculptures are a representation of both the Macro image of the Micro patterns in
nature which emulate the marks made by nature. The abstract ephemeral patterns of a
landscape, being Ripples, Dendritic Forms and Catsʼ Paws has produced a contemporary
gestalt perception of a unique visual language of nature.
Figure 120. J.Matthews Magnified fragile marks of nature
71
The successful mediation of these ephemeral marks into the surface of the glass panels and the
permanent marks in the glass, opened up the creative process to include several methodologies
- drawing glyphs in ink and graphite on paper; displaying hermetically sealed glass pods;
frottaging of bark from River Red Gum trees on to glass panels; the transformation of three
dimensional sculptures (Pods) to two dimensional projected images; the transcribing of glyphs
into a scroll; the production of shadow images through the sandblasting of glyphs on to glass;
and documentation through photography.
This Alchemic process or artistic transformation of stabilising the glyphs either by embedding or
containing them in glass, gives an impression of Chinese Calligraphy, strengthening the
connection with Chinese Alchemy, and influencing the format of the work.
The interpretation of imprinted marks that remain on the landscape from the effects of the
elements of fire, flood and drought can be read as natureʼs language. The patterns produced by
the fluid motion of waves, currents or winds range from the dendritic forms of flowing water
channels and gullies to the anamorphic scorched tree. Capturing these traits, enabled me to
create a body of work that reveals how the power of nature has been a gift for me as a visual
artist.
This Masters Project has been a journey of self discovery. An unexpected outcome from this
research was the recovery of a memory from childhood of a dendritic tree in all its splendour,
this being the first time I became aware of the beauty of the environment.
On viewing my work, an audience will have the opportunity to interpret these magnified fragile
marks left by nature which will inform them and hopefully develop a greater appreciation and
understanding of this unique language of nature.
72
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Number 1pages - Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation

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