Furniture

Please Sit (sculpture, 2016)
Earth Moments (video, 2016)

H 66.5 × W 165 × D 86 cm

Buffalo Hide, Red Gum, Stainless Steel

Inspired by the belief that we need ‘grounded’ connection with our natural environment to be in harmony with this precious planet Earth.

I created Please Sit to invite people to take a few moments to contemplate what Earth means to them. Visual media shows a collection of special places within the Canberra region, Kosciusko Mountains and waterways to the New South Wales coast in Australia. I call these Earth Moments. The work shares my experience and my inspiration.

I was taken to a special place amongst the Rams Head Range in Kosciuszko National Park above Thredbo, New South Wales. Resting on a patch of snowgrass by a small stream, I became totally transfixed and immersed in the incredible and subtle beauty evoking all my senses. I felt at peace, with an overwhelming connection. While sitting, everything appeared still as if staring at an enormous photograph. Gently, I became aware of interactions, revealed by floating clouds above extensive granite boulders, rippling water, waves of sunlight, grasses swaying and Alpine Daisies occasionally quivering as breezes passed. I was held by this ‘Earth Moment’. I felt a grounded connection as my body, mind, imagination and soul appeared to mesh with the larger living entity, charging my life force. I was inspired to seek other ‘Earth Moments’.

Knowing and appreciating our place as one component of this Earth, perhaps custodians not destroyers, requires mindfulness and quiet contemplation. Please take time to sit, feel the materials and consider.

- Extract by Mary Kayser from the Earth exhibition catalogue

Exhibited: EARTH, Belconnen Arts Centre 19 August – 11 September 2016 curated by Benita Tunks and opened by TV celebrity Costa Georgiadis, host of Gardening Australia.

Exhibited: The Shine Dome Exhibition, East Space Gallery, for Design Canberra, Craft ACT, Canberra, curated by Julia Greenstreet, 2017

Exhibited: The Playlist, ANCA Dicksob ACT, 2017 curated by Karena Keys.