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Clarrice Collien
Clarrice Collien, Giraffe, 2011
Clarrice Collien’s practice centres on everyday narratives which involve people, animals and place. Collien creates images using her signature ‘window wire’ tapestry technique, a method Collien has developed since childhood. A series of these tapestries were exhibited in AART.BOXX 2009 at Mori Gallery, Sydney.
For Framing Gravity, Collien was commissioned to extend her practice to consider sculptural possibilities for her work. Roomies Art Space based in Sydney’s inner west, facilitated this process. Roomies is a studio that supports artists in vulnerable housing situations. Collien is a long-standing member and contributor to the Roomies artistic collective.
In supporting this new direction in her work, Collien paired up with artist and guerrilla knitter Denise Litchfield. The resulting outcome is a series of sculptures made from kindling and wool. From the process of binding and treating these organic materials, Collien has created a staging of characters that draw on the common scenes which recur in her tapestry work.
Collien states: “I found sticks outside on the trees and put wool around them. The head is a big seed, there were lots of them around Roomies. I am making a family –there is a girl, the Mum, the Dad and a baby”.
This commission was made possible by an artist grant from Hawkesbury Regional Gallery.