This Bower my Prison.

"This Bower my Prison" is the blog name of the multi talented Sydney artist and sculptor Jane Gillings.
I found out about Jane when I received an email from her about 3 years ago. She had some great lino to give me if I wanted it. In an absolutely wonderful stroke of luck and perfect timing, I was up in the Blue Mountains on holiday at the time and was going to be passing right by her house the next day! And I'm still using the excellent primary coloured lino she gave me!
Jane is a classic bower bird, collecting discarded plastics and transforming them into amazing 3 dimensional artwork.

This intricate owl and wren are made from packing tape and other scavenged plastic.
In 2008 Jane had an exhibition titled "Found Feathered Friends" featuring sculptured life size native birds all totally created with recycled plastic from Jane's huge collection. Check out this short film where Jane talks about her inspiration and production processes behind this show.

Jane regularly exhibits in the annual "Sculpture by the Sea", Australia's largest free outdoor exhibition of sculpture located along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk.

In 2008 Jane created dozens of plastic blooms in a installation titled "Wreath". Jane said this about her creation "Hopefully for some, it made them think about the underlying message of waste and loss of precious resources. On the whole though, my aim is primarily to create something of beauty. For me, art is as much about beauty as it is about creating meaning without words."

Her 2009 piece was "Dream Home", a cubby like constuction mosaiced with those rainbow hued plastic toys we all know and love/hate! This piece won the Kids Choice Award .
"What I love about the piece is that it brings out the kid in everyone and I probably had more fun making it than the thousands of kids had playing in the piece during the exhibit. Winning this prize is a great reward for a lot of hard work," said Jane

Look at the brilliant detail in Jane's tribute to famous masterpieces .

According to Jane "As family and friends will attest, I never throw anything out. It's a sickness that runs through my family. So rather than keep things boxed up under the house, I am compelled to turn them into works of art. I am slowly being suffocated by these pieces, my studio is getting smaller and smaller. The funny thing is that the sickness is also the cure."At the moment Jane is madly preparing for another solo show. I 'm hoping one day she will exhibit in Melbourne...gallery owners- hint,hint!
Visit Jane Gilling's website and read a great interview here.Pics. from This Bower my Prison , or click on images for source.