Garden of Cruel Delights

site responsive installation Coal Loader Waverton
Suzanne Davey, Garden of Cruel Delights, plants, wood, metal, bricks, stone, jute, copper, 250cm x 250cm x 800cm

A site responsive installation exhibited at the historic Coal Loader, Waverton, as part of the North Sydney Art Prize, curated by Alison Clark. The work was located on the Coal Loader Platform, surrounded by community garden beds. It extends and builds upon The Garden of Cruel Delights photographic series exploring our inter-relationships with plants.

site responsive art installation Coal Loader Waverton
Suzanne Davey, Garden of Cruel Delights, plants, wood, metal, bricks, stone, jute, copper, 250cm x 250cm x 800cm

Statement:

The Coal Loader is an exchange zone between us, plants and environmental forces, where flora experience constant transformation through our destructive and constructive actions. Tactile and material interventions performed on living plants are utilised to examine concepts such as empathy, control, adaptation to showcase the power of plants to lead us to better futures.

site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail
site responsive art installation Coal Loader Waverton
Suzanne Davey, Garden Of Cruel Delights, installation detail

Gathering Shadows

Suzanne Davey, Gathering Shadows, ceramic, brick, bones, wood, charcoal, shells, 70cm x 300cm x300cm

Gathering Shadows is a site responsive installation that responds to the changing cultural history of the Coal Loader, Waverton, from its indigenous heritage, land use on the site, its role in facilitating the coal mining industry through to its current role as a centre for sustainability on the harbour foreshore.    The work considers our inter-dependence with site histories (indigenous, animal, geological) and the potential future consequences of our collective actions and inaction towards environmental ecologies.    Notions of temporal flows, site ruptures and dis-ruptures, surface wounds and healing are investigated.    The work explores clay as a media shaped by human touch and the ceramic traditions of containment. Unable to hold back their contents shells, small animal bones, charcoal and bricks flow and spill in the shadows of the ceramic forms.   

Suzanne Davey, Gathering Shadows, detail, ceramic, brick, bones, wood, charcoal, shells, 70cm x 300cm x300cm
Suzanne Davey, Gathering Shadows, detail, stoneware ceramic, 45 x 40 x 40 cm

Sweet Surrender


Suzanne Davey, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm



A protective response to the fragility of the delicate ecosystem of Stony Range; captured, completely surrounded and held to ransom by the encroaching urban environment.

 A site specific work installed in Stony Range Regional Botanical Garden 2014.



Overhead installation view, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm

Installation detail, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm

Ceramic detail, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal

Installation view, Sweet Surrender, ceramic, metal, 220 cm x 220cm x 30cm


The Shape of Air: exhibition at Eramboo Artist Environment

Suzanne Davey, Zest (maquette), twigs, grasses, wire, wax, 50 x 90 x 40cm

The Shape of Air was exhibited at Eramboo Artist Environment and comprised of works by installation artists Suzanne Davey and Ainslie Murray exploring the tangible nature of air and material echo. Curated by Greg Stonehouse the works investigate a range of ideas drawn from notions about air and immaterial space such as breath, presence/absence, the dissolution of architectural space and atmosphere. Both artists explored these notions through outdoor works in the Eramboo bushland as well as a range of process works in the gallery.

The Shape Of Air exhibition installation

Concepts introduced by Monika Bakke’s book ‘The Life of Air’ were explored, including thinking of air as a crowded perpetual motion component of place and as a dynamic habitat we share through the action of breathing with plants, animals (birds and insects) and microbial life. The works respond to the site by installation placement, using materials collected from it or by engaging with  the unique and special characteristics of Eramboo as a place on the urban fringe, surrounded by wild bushland.  The spatial intersections ultimately aim to investigate our dynamic relationship with the landscape; as a space where our bodies merge constantly with the environment.

The Shape Of Air exhibition installation
Suzanne Davey, Tangled, fabric, sticks, resin,
wax, wire, 110 x 250 x 10cm
Suzanne Davey, Tangled, (detail), fabric, sticks, resin,
wax, wire, 110 x 250 x 10cm
Ainslie Murray, The Liquid Air (Prototype),
aluminium, acrylic, sand, dimensions variable
Artist talk, The Shape of Air, Ainslie Murray, The Liquid Air (Prototype),
aluminium, acrylic, sand, dimensions variable

Suzanne Davey, Configuring Wonder, installation detail,
fabric, bamboo, sticks, 300 x 500 x 800cm
Suzanne Davey, Configuring Wonder, installation view with
Eramboo gallery, fabric, bamboo, sticks, 300 x 500 x 800cm

Suzanne Davey, Zest (maquette), twigs, grasses, wire, 50 x 90 x 40cm

Suzanne Davey, In Between, fabric, sticks, stone,
rope, tent pegs, 200 x 300 x 550cm

Suzanne Davey, In Between, fabric, sticks, stone,
rope, tent pegs, 200 x 300 x 550cm

 

Suzanne Davey, On the Edge, bamboo, fishing line,
 wire, paint, 80 x 180 x 450cm

Wind Songs: Art In Odd Places

Suzanne Davey, Christina Frank, Lisa Marshall, Wind Songs, umbrella covers, thread, dimensions variable
 
WIND SONGS is a public art project created by Suzanne Davey, Christina Frank and Lisa Marshall for Art in Odd Places Australia 2013 exhibited 14-15 September Dee Why Beach, 21-22 September Manly Beach.

WIND SONGS is a dynamic, colourful installation that uses an everyday object, the humble umbrella, and transforms it from the ordinary into the extraordinary. A mass of umbrellas have been de-constructed and re-configured in new and surprising ways. The ‘fly away’ work responds directly to the elemental landscape of Manly and Dee Why. Floating in the sea breeze it sings songs about fragility, struggles and the power of transformation.



Wind Songs Dee Why Beach
 
 
Wind Songs Manly 
 
Project Rationale: Umbrellas are utilitarian objects charged with memories and a myriad of metaphorical possibilities. Nostalgia for summer holidays at the beach, fresh sea breezes, life saving flags, experiences of wild storms, rain and wind and our basic human need for shelter and protection are all evoked by the humble umbrella.
 
Umbrellas are also delicate and fragile objects. In strong winds umbrellas have a tendency to ‘fly away’ and de-construct. On windy days at the beach runaway umbrellas cartwheel dangerously across the sand. On wild wet days locations such as the Manly Corso are littered with discarded rain umbrellas, sad and forlorn, inside out and broken.
 
The installation is a large colourful, geometric canopy/banner/structure constructed from found and collected umbrellas and arranged together in a tessellated pattern. The installation responds directly to sea breezes, creates bold shadows patterns on surfaces and creatively expresses the umbrella’stendency to ‘fly away’ in response to wind. Through its dynamic composition, its re-construction and final transformation of multiple umbrellas into a new form Wind Songscan remind the viewer of…….
  • the fragility of life
  • being in the moment, the brevity of life
  • everyday struggles: weathering storms, the whirl of life, the risk of the things we depend on de-constructing and flying away.
  • transformation and re-ordering eg: moving through major personal changes or crises
  • memories and nostalgia for summer holidays, childhood, beach days

Wind Songs project proposal drawing
 

On the Edge: Coal Loader Waverton

bamboo, fishing line, paint, fabric, 70 cm h x 450cm l x 180cm w
On the Edge is an ephemeral kinetic installation exploring balance and counterbalance in the elemental landscape; the ebb and flow of tides, bobbing boats and floating buoys, and the waft of sea breezes. Inspired by the movement of cranes, it responds to the Coal Loader as a site that seeks equilibrium between its industrial heritage, community usage and as a delicate ecosystem on the edge of the harbour.

A site responsive work exhibited at the Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability, Waverton for The North Sydney Art Prize: toward 2020 exhibition 27 July – 5 August 2013



Configuring Wonder: Sculpture at Scenic World

Suzanne Davey, Configuring Wonder, fabric, sticks, bamboo, 8 m x 6 m x 1 m 

Configuring Wonder is an installation that responds to the world heritage site of Scenic World (Blue Mountains, Australia) as a tourist attraction, a natural ‘wonder’, and a delicate ecosystem. It was created for ‘Sculpture at Scenic World 2013’ and exhibited along with the work of 35 other selected Australian and International artists. 

Suzanne Davey, Configuring Wonder,  fabric, bamboo, sticks, 8 m x 6 m x 1 m

Classical notions of beauty include three ’ingredients’: symmetry, proportion and harmony. These notions are also principles of composition throughout art history and abundantly evident in the natural world. Configuring Wonderapplies these principles and explores the discord between notions of beauty and wonder and the use of nature by man. Using the ever present polygon in nature as the foundation for multiple forms they are distorted by the straining of delicate sticks against fabric, tied and tethered all while awkwardly ‘performing’ for the viewer. Between the large number of forms, and their interactions with the flora of the rain forest there is an uncomfortable striving for balance and equilibrium amongst excess (the golden mean).


Suzanne Davey, Configuring Wonder, fabric, bamboo, sticks, paint,  8 m x 6 m x 1 m


The work integrates closely with the site, allowing ferns and small trees to protrude through the installation. Over 60 fabric sculptures are configured in a large diamond shape covering 24 square metres and suspended on a wire net above the floor of the rain forest.

Configuring Wonder, detail of installation unit, fabric, sticks, bamboo, 80 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm


The fabric sculptures are varied in size and shape: some are tethered to bamboo frames and stretched and contorted; others are attached to a golden framework with sticks pushing and distorting the surface. In sunlight the forms are semi-translucent with the outline of delicate sticks visible through the fabric.

Configuring Wonder, detail of installation unit, fabric, sticks, bamboo, 65 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm
Configuring Wonder, detail of fabric sculpture units for installation


The installation was created in response to a site visit in 2012 and took into account the unique physical and aesthetic qualities of its location.


Rainforest site for Configuring Wonder
Configuring Wonder installation in progress

ADRIFT in Manly

ADRIFT, recycled polystyrene, fishing line, glow in the dark paint, bamboo
3.5 m x 4.5 m x  2 m

ADRIFT is an ephemeral public art installation created in response to Manly Esplanade; its physical qualities, and the way people interact with, and utilise the site. 

It was exhibited as part of ‘SEE: Manly Public Art Project’ along with the work of 23 artists. The project was the result of a collaboration between Eramboo Artist Environment, Manly Art Gallery and Museum and Kendal Henry, an innovative New York artist and public art curator. 

ADRIFT, recycled polystyrene, fishing line, glow in the dark paint, bamboo
3.5 m x 4.5 m x  2 m


About ADRIFT:
Manly Esplanade is a site where drifting occurs, both seen and unseen. The ebb and flow of tourists, weekenders, commuters, ferry’s and boats, wind and water is a constant. It provides escape from the day to day, respite for many socially disadvantaged people and is a site of rescue for some. Along with escapist play and respite comes the flotsam and jetsam of broken boogie boards, surfboards, fishing floats and line, esky’s and buoys drifting on ocean currents. 


These leave a dark aftermath: lethal litter for birds and sea creatures and toxic chemicals for our food chain. 

Threaded polystyrene shards (like ‘neptunes beads’ seaweed,  pearls, swimming lanes) respond gently to air currents. At night the installation glows, referencing the phosphorescence of the sea which carries the lethal drift ashore.


It started with a broken surfboard shard washed ashore and blowing around the Manly Esplanade.


Recycled polystyrene was collected and completely sealed to prevent further environmental damage.




 The coated shards were threaded on fishing line, arranged in an ‘ocean current’ pattern 
and painted with glow in the dark paint.
The final size of the installation was adjusted to the dimensions of the site.

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