Wednesday 9 September 2015

Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize


Photographer: Jane Earle

The 2015 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is the first national acquisitive prize for an original, freestanding sculpture of up to 80cm in any dimension. Over the exhibition, families can view the finalists artworks and also participate in family workshops and activities. 

We chatted with Fiona Hueston, a finalist in this years competition about her intriguing sculpture, Circle.

How did you create your sculpture Circle?

'Circle' consists of over 400 individually cut and handmade origami Fortune Teller forms made from white paper glued together with ethylene vinyl acetate and manipulated into a circle to create the final structure. The piece took over 50 hours to create.

What inspired you to create this piece?

Circle' evolved from my memory of a decision making game that I liked as a child called Fortune Teller, where the players must first choose a colour, then a number, which in turn would determine their fate and the hidden task in the middle. I created 100s of Fortune Tellers, played around and manipulate them until I discovered ‘Circle.’

I began this process by photographing interesting and repetitive geometrical patterns found in the built urban environment. The lines and angles of a roof, the patterns embedded into a cobbled street and the layers and forms created by a stack of newspapers. 

I realised that all these elements exist because someone had made a decision to create them, that life is built around hundreds of seemingly small, insignificant decisions to create a greater whole and that it is ongoing in nature.

The process of making hundreds of small decisions everyday determine the shape and form of our lives, ‘Circle’ is a metaphor for this process where the small individual forms of the Fortune Tellers brought together create the shape and form of the finished sculpture.

Why is paper your choice of medium?

I use paper because you take a flat piece of paper, which is very 2D, and create something 3D, and you can use to create many different shapes and forms and it can be layered. 
Also, I like to work with paper because it is very transportable, I can work anywhere, on a plane, on a train, in a cafe here in Sydney or in Paris. My studio is not limited to a set geographical location.

What are you working on next?

I have just finished a black circle called ‘Noir’ and I would like to make a stripy or multi-coloured circle next.

What advice would you give young artists who wanted to create their own paper sculpture?

With paper you have to be patient, and make sure your cutting and folding is accurate. Just play with it until you find something that looks and feels right.

Family Workshops include:

Weaving and Surface Design
with Artist in Residence, Edwina Straub
11 October | 1.00pm - 3.00pm

Crochet with waste
with Angela Van Boxtel
17 October | 1.00pm - 3.00pm

Three Dimensional Painting
with Artist in Residence, Julia Kennedy Bell
18 and 25 October | 1.00pm - 3.00pm

Fish Sculptures
with Angela Van Boxtel
24 October | 1.00 - 3.00pm

Artist Talks with
Ruby Aitchison, Veronica Andrus-Blaskievics, Mark Booth, Fleur Brett, Michelle Cawthorn, Adrian Clement, Melissa Coote, Tracey Deep, Lisa Giles, Fiona Hueston, Anita Larkin, Kendal Murray, John Nicholson, Belinda Winkler and Yioryios.
10 October | 2.00pm - 4.00pm

Venue: Woollahra Council 536 New South Head Road





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