Grown / Made

By Eilis O'Connell
Size:
186cm high
Medium:
Bronze
Date:
2012
Edition size:
3

"This is a series of works that began with gourds that I got at the local market when I lived in Brixton. As a child I collected gourds from the African Missions, a church in Cork that sold African goods to raise money. Later I grew a contorted willow tree that grew so fast I had to prune it. I kept the branches that I liked, they had a randomness and urgency of line that I later combined with the fullness of the gourd.

Things that I collect lie around the studio and through constant looking, placing and moving things ideas emerge.

I had them cast into bronze to preserve them, the originals are very delicate.

Permanence for me is really important, a bronze can be buried for thousands of years and when unearthed it will have an even better patina."

 

Grown / Made