DWELL
MEL LUMB + ELISE CAMERON-SMITH
DWELL
17 – 28 November 2021
Opening Night: Wednesday 17 November 6pm – 8pm (RSVP to attend)
Meet the Artist: Saturday 27 November 11am – 4pm
Catalogue & Price List: View PDF Catalogue (8.4 Mb)
Australian artists Elise Cameron-Smith and Mel Lumb delve into their connection to the natural environment and together they present a quintessentially avant-garde and salient exhibition that inspires feelings of warmth and familiar comfort.
DWELL draws into conversation, two distinct yet traditional art practices, through virtue of their mutual dialogue – the landscape. Making use of natural materials, earth, and timber, sculpted to bring about a tranquil, contemplative yet contemporary elevation of spaces we inhabit and call home. A reflection on the sense of place and the things that matter most for us in dwellings.
Mel and Elise both adopt a slow and sustainable style when creating, leaving the beauty of the materials used laid bare. Each piece is artisanal and crafted by hand without the use of moulds or templates. Finishes are refined yet reminiscent of their origins.
ABOUT MEL LUMB
Mel Lumb is a ceramic artist working from a humble home studio within the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Her imprint is natural, earthy, tactile with a modern Zen-aesthetic. While there is a raw feel to each piece, there is also a sense of refined beauty and a practical functionality. Not simply for admiring visually, her creations are assimilated into everyday life. Her inspiration draws upon a mash-up of influences from Danish mid-century, Japanese design, and the bold confidence of the unique Australian landscape.
Mel began working with clay in 2013 after more than two decades immersed in corporate marketing. Having lost touch with the creative side of business that she’d been so drawn to in the beginning. A wonderful gift for all of us that she started to play with clay! The entire creative process happens on her little farm in the beautiful Queensland town of Eumundi. Each piece made by hand; wheel-thrown raku and porcelain clays, using custom glazes and fired in a kiln powered by the sun – fossil fuel free.
This body of work for me represents a slowing down. A renewed romance with the process and exploration of the raw beauty of the Australian landscape. Each piece an expression of the places that bring me comfort, connection, and growth.
Incorporating both wheel throwing and hand building techniques, applied texture and the use of natural earth oxides as colourants, this elegant yet earthy series brings together traditional and contemporary forms with a harmonious palette and use of a single mullite rich stoneware clay body. This beautiful Australian clay provides great strength and structure while the matte and sometimes textured surface creates a lovely canvas to display hand smudged oxides, slips and custom glazes.
– Mel Lumb
ABOUT ELISE CAMERON-SMITH
Elise Cameron-Smith is a Wollongong based Sculptor and timber artisan who works exclusively in the medium of wood. Best known for her boats which have been featured in many Australian publications, Elise is now evolving her practice to focus on creating large sculptural & functional artworks.
Her work is influenced by a coastal lifestyle and the rhythmic forms of the Australian landscape, hence the biotic soft curves, topographical shapes, and amoebic surface carving. Constructed with traditional hand tools and joinery techniques, her work is contemporary, tactile, and refined. Elise works in an off-grid studio in an environmentally conscious practice, generating no waste and using only sustainable materials.
Elise studied Design at Enmore Design Centre & Fine Furniture Making at The Sturt School for Wood, she has been mentored by woodworkers Leon Sadubin & John Van Der Kolk.
Elise has exhibited successfully in several group shows at Saint Cloche and she is featured on this week’s episode of award-winning lifestyle tv programme Better Homes & Gardens, on Channel 7 (for the 2nd time) on Friday, October 29th at 7pm.
Our dwellings became our whole world during greater Sydney’s lockdown of 2021. By creating during this time of hibernation at home, I enjoyed a slower pace of making. Hand carving and shaping one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by nature. With textures and shapes reflecting the magic of the Australian coastal environments, I was inspired to create furniture & sculpture for the home that embodied the spirit of the outdoors.
Within this body of work is a mix of organic forms with soft curves and smooth lines evoked from seashells, tidelines, and reflections on water. Then balanced with geometric shapes, sharp lines and carved textures drawn from sandstone cliffs, ridgelines of the escarpment and colours of the bush.
I sourced unique slabs of timber for this series, all of which are completely individual, retaining the life story of the tree within the finished works. Handcrafted using traditional joinery techniques, this slower method of construction ensures an artisanal quality and unique tactile finish for each one-of-a-kind piece.
It’s in these times of solace and solitude, I was reminded of the importance of connection, home, love, and intimacy. From months spent carving I learned to not dwell on the past or the possible future, but to live in the present moment and always make the best of today.
– Elise Cameron-Smith
For more information, please contact us.