Sculpture’s Story of Shadows and Silence

 
SPEAKS FOR ITSELF: ‘Blue Hills’, 2019. 3.5m x 7m x 7m by Walcha-based sculptor James Rogers (photo by: Carol Sparks)

SPEAKS FOR ITSELF: ‘Blue Hills’, 2019. 3.5m x 7m x 7m by Walcha-based sculptor James Rogers (photo by: Carol Sparks)

 

THE recent installation of a major work of public art at a junction of the New England and Gwydir Highways through Glen Innes has generated plenty of community queries about the title of the sculpture and the inspiration behind it. Arts North West talked with its Walcha-based creator James Rogers to dig deeper.

What we found was an artist thinking about the long-term experience of his work in the context of its setting: not just the centrepiece of a roundabout in a major traffic corridor, but one that sits within an upland valley of the NSW Northern Tablelands.

“‘Blue Hills’ is an abstract, painted steel construction composed of 52 hand-cut, long, curved strips of steel and accompanied bridging elements,” James explained. “The strips are cut from 600-millimetre dia tube. This character of element is something I have been working with in the studio for some years.”

Despite its apparent simplicity, according to James ‘Blue Hills’ took on its own life during its creation.

“I composed the work over five months in Walcha, accumulating groups of the steel slivers into loose-leaning bunches that connect at the foot and the top, into a generally circular form,” he said.

“As work proceeded, lyrical elements were added to accommodate structural considerations and activate the ridge of the sculpture, maintaining a dialog from top to base and back to the ridge of the listing, arrhythmic drapes.

“The density compounds across the space as the structure circulates. Steel is endlessly plastic and further welding and cutting kept the process alive.

“I work alone and with a small forklift as my assistant. I felt very close in answering the sculpture’s physical demands as the work unfolded.”

Patterns and distance 

Quirindi-born James Rogers is a regular Sculpture By The Sea exhibitor who studied the artform at the former Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education before living, working and regularly exhibiting in Sydney. His public commissions include ‘Song Cycle’ (2001) at Walcha, another sinuous metallic work situated inside a roundabout.

It’s clear that James spent time gauging how ‘Blue Hills’ would appear from road level in a moving vehicle.

“I see the work as a composition of long shadows,” he said. “The tonality of distance is blue and the silence of the Tablelands, so blue; but on closer experience the blue is itself a composition of forms, an interplay across a space of light and shadow, of form and void”.

“Further familiarity may reveal counterpoints of rhythm that invoke pattern, but it all moves on, the blue still unfolding as a memory of looking forward, around a roundabout and indicating some choices made.

“The sculpture is a distillation of nature’s space with a detached countenance that asks us to look into the silence in the shadows.”

Sculptor James Rogers working on “Blue Hills” in his Walcha studio (photo by: Caroline Downer, Arts North West)

Sculptor James Rogers working on “Blue Hills” in his Walcha studio (photo by: Caroline Downer, Arts North West)

No signpost

According to James, who relocated to live, work and exhibit at Walcha in 2009, his work must speak for itself over time.

“Now that ‘Blue Hills’ is installed, and all the barracking and raspberries blended over, the sculpture gets on with its job, mute and silent,” he said.

“No plaque will speak for it adequately if the eye is not enticed. This is no signpost or billboard. No voice cheers it on other than the harsh glare of our daily cycle, weeks and months at a time as the light of the sun and seasons’ angle shapes our moments at the crossroads.” - James Rogers

“Whether north, south, east or west, it is a drivers’ and passengers’ exchange. It is all first-timers and learners, fresh-faced and old hands that negotiate an evaluation of delight at their transport through the intersection. No two arrivals will be the same from foggy dawn to day’s end.

“A successful work of art, I think, induces silence, while in our core we suspend disbelief, and the eye’s curiosity moves ahead of what might be daily and commonplace utterance.”

To read more about James Rogers’ work check out his website: https://www.jamesrogers.com.au/

Make Haste for Online Shakespearean Workshops

 
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A SERIES of free online workshops will give New England North West Year 11 and 12 students, and their university counterparts, the chance to pick up Shakespearean performance techniques, historical context and language tips, and participants are encouraged to sign up fast.

Actor, facilitator and University of New England Theatre Studies graduate Alex Robson of Inverell is the force behind this skill-sharing program, which was made possible by a micro grant from Arts North West. The focus will be William Shakespeare’s enduring romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

Three Sydney-based actors will assist in the delivery of this unique learning opportunity for aspiring performing artists, which will culminate in a rehearsed reading of the play on the Zoom online chat service.

“Parts of the workshops will be recorded and made available to the public,” Alex told Arts North West. “It is also hoped that these workshops will lead to a season of live performances – featuring some of the workshop participants – across the region once the lockdown has ended.”

An actor, director and writer, Alex won an international scholarship to study the works of Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He subsequently devised two plays about the Bard and his work: A Short Guide to Shakespeare and Shakespeare's Villains: Everyone But Iago, the former appearing in the 2014 Sydney Fringe then touring the state.

After recently winning another scholarship to study at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, he was forced to change tack when COVID-19 ruined his plans.

Actors Jade Fuda, Reilly O’Byrne-Inglis and Nicholas Foustellis round out the wealth of experience of offer for online workshop participants in this unique learning experience.

Places are limited and students wishing to participate will need to complete and return an expression of interest form by 5pm Monday June 22, 2020. A media release form is also required (signed by a parent or guardian for underage participants) for all those signing up, and all four workshops must be attended.

For more information, see The Two Sticks website (https://twostickstheatre.wordpress.com/) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TwoSticksTheatre/), or email alexkendallrobson@gmail.com.

Sarah Streams for her Supper

 
TECH-SAVVY SONGSTRESS: Baan Baa singer-songwriter Sarah Leete (photo: supplied)

TECH-SAVVY SONGSTRESS: Baan Baa singer-songwriter Sarah Leete (photo: supplied)

 

A ONE-HOUR live performance distributed on social media by a Narrabri Shire-based singer-songwriter has added to the array of artists reaching out to new audiences as part of an initiative funded by Arts North West.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baan Baa musician Sarah Leete toured her special blend of country music locally and interstate, but like so many other recording artists, she was faced with the sudden closure of performing arts venues in March.

“I have now been forced to take it solely online,” the singer told Arts North West this week.

While online performances might seem an easy task, as Sarah explained they’re no mean feat considering the expectation of high quality sound and lighting in online arts offerings, and working with limited or no access to technical support.

“I received a micro grant so I could perform on a high-quality live stream broadcast to my fans on social media,” Sarah said. “The grant helped me to purchase the equipment to use my DSLR camera to stream the project, as well as lighting and sound gear to make it look and sound professional.”

According to Sarah the project is going well, with her first video (assisted ably by family members) attracting close to 1000 views across the country and a huge response from fans on social media, many of whom generously donated to the singer’s PayPal account in exchange for her gutsy performance.

“The learning experience has been very steep though, and I have found it quite challenging,” she said.

“I would consider myself to be somewhat tech-savvy, but this project required a lot more time, effort, learning and understanding than I anticipated.

“Ultimately the live broadcast of my performance went off without a hitch, but there will be things I can improve on for next time.”

Unexpected obstacle

Performing a blend of originals and cover songs, Sarah spent the hour-long broadcast taking requests and delivering shout-outs to her fans, but she also dealt with unexpected phone calls, had to moderate comments while on air, and as she told Arts North West, an unexpected obstacle nearly threw the whole idea on its head.

“The main surprises in this project were technical,” she said, “but I also struggled to purchase the equipment necessary to complete the task, as a lot of musicians around the world are trying to do the same thing!”

Follow Sarah’s journey and live streams on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/sarahleetemusic and Instagram www.instagram.com/sarahleetemusic