Snowshoe

February 2022 / Winter Sculpture Park, Gallery 32, Bexley
Timber, stain, birch plywood, acrylic mirror / 80 cms x 60 cms x 35 cms

A snowshoe treads lightly on the earth, allows you to travel safely over a delicate surface, spreading your weight.

I see it as an erratic, a piece of sky drawn down to the earth, a slick of water, a puddle, a moat (protecting the tree?)

It’s matter out of place, borrowing its light from the sky.

It’s a bench hugging the tree but not for us to rest on. The surface of human comfort has been dissolved into light.

It’s a watcher, keeping a weather eye on the world, looking out and away from the human realm. Disappearing our presence. Warning of what’s to come?

Over time it will gather what the tree sheds, creating a new artwork of flotsam and jetsam, insect trails, watermarks.

For now it’s a blank sheet, a clear echo of the weather and the light.