Michael Francis Cartwright
1989
tin, copper pot, tube &paint
cm
collection of the artist
Michael Francis Cartwright
1989
tin, copper pot, tube &paint
cm
collection of the artist
Shona Nunan
1990
Red gum wood
300 x 10 x 10cm
‘The Tall Guardian’ came from the days when I would work with whatever material I could find. My work was particularly elongated at that stage, so when I found an old red gum post lying in the garden, I was excited. It is 3 metres long and some areas are very thin where I carved the calves of the legs, so a metal bar was drilled into her to prevent her from breaking. I was never very practical with my materials and that is why I turned more and more to bronze as it is far more forgiving of my follies. I love this piece. She stands presently in my father’s studio in Australia where she is ‘on guard’.
in the collection of the artist
Shona Nunan
1991
Huon Pine wood
collection of the artist
I carved ‘Mother and Child’ in beautiful Huon Pine from Tasmania. A load of the very rare Huon Pine arrived at our local hardware. It was intended to be purchased by crafts people. I couldn’t bear the wood to be cut up into smaller pieces, so I bought the lot. It was amazing wood to carve, but in the end I was poisoned by the dust – I rarely wore a mask, and I ended up selling half the allotment back to the hardware. This is in my collection because it is significant of a period in my life where as a young mother I was trying to balance being a mother and being an artist. I think sometimes having children is ‘heavy’, beautiful as it is. I have kept as many of my wood carvings as possible, some were sold, but because I no longer carve wood, I love having these pieces around.
Shona Nunan
1988
Bronze, Edition of 6
101 x 21 x 17 cm
She is from a group of sculptures I created in 1988 while I was pregnant with our youngest son. I feel this group of works ,which included ‘Horse’ ‘Study of a young Man’, ‘Young Boy’ and ‘Young girl, was an important stage in my development as an artist. I did these works directly in plaster and cast them in bronze for an exhibition at Holdsworth Galleries in Woollhara, Sydney.
Shona Nunan
1986
bronze edition 2 of 3
28 x 10 x 15 cm
Shona Nunan
1984
Bronze edition 6 of 6
first bronze cast by Shona
150 x 37 x 37 cm
She is precious to me. She is perhaps myself as a young girl, finding herself pregnant. I also felt at the time that she represented the burgeoning creativity in me as I fixed my determination to be an artist. I created her in Ortonovo in Italy in 1984 in the upstairs room of our little house. My dream was to cast her in bronze, and one day we ventured to Pietrasanta where the great foundries were. I had only the courage to peer in the doors then because I had no money then to spare. She was cast in bronze a few years later in Melbourne and was my first significant bronze.
Two bronzes, Night and Day for the first class lounge entrance in Hong Kong airport
Michael Francis Cartwright
2015
iron
unique cast
90 x 105 x 36 cm