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."