I was born in 1951, in Sydney and am largely a self-taught artist wood sculptor. It excites me to use unconventional methods, developing bold shapes combining off-the-tool texture with earth pigments and resins, I have collected from the natural environment. I enjoy experimenting with the combination of wood and different materials to represent the integrity of an original concept, often working collaboratively with other craft practitioners learning new skills and techniques.
"The ancient Australian landscape inspires me artistically and spiritually. I use wood collected from coastal and outback regions which is felled by fire, wind, rain, and old age"
In my down to earth studio in the Onkaparinga Hills, Adelaide, South Australia (which is geographically accessible to the Australian coastline and central regions of Australia), I pay tribute to Australia's landscape in both functional and decorative forms. My art works celebrate nature's small marvels, depicting seed pods, a curl of peeling bark and the gnarled, fire scorched trunk of a grass tree. Fire ecology plays a big part in my work as it has done for eons of time through the Aboriginal custodianship of this land. A stylised bowl, of a Banksia seed pod burst open by a passing bushfire. An aerial view of outback channel country in flood, depicted by the complex grain of a Coolabah tree, found along inland watercourses. I work in a very intuitive way, which may see the original concept change, evolving, depending on the characteristics of the wood being used.
I met a master woodcraftsman Ono Showasai, a Living National Treasure during a trip to Okayama, Japan in 1989. From him I learnt about the phrase 'One Enjoyment' where there is flow between the conception of an idea and the means to create it, the action is 'oneness'. My work is represented in public and private collections, in Australia and Internationally and has been purchased by the Federal and South Australian Governments as gifts for overseas dignitaries and government officials.
CV
view Peter Carrigy's Curriculum Vitae
Articles
view " A Sculptor for the Australian Environment "
by Dr Christine Nicholls
Senior Lecturer Australian Studies
Flinders University S.A.
World Sculpture News 2011 Hong Kong
view " Bush Marks "
by Dr Noris Ioannou
Craft Arts International 2000 Sydney