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Carole Andrews
Photos and text supplied by Carole Andrews
I am inspired to make sculpture through observing different aspects of the natural world from the grandeur of cliff faces and rock formations to the minutia of seed dispersal, from the hidden underwater world of coral reefs to microscopic sea creature. Images remembered from these sources mix together in my head and form the basis of my sculptural intent.
Sculpture happens through a torturous process trying to capture these images in 3D using a variety of materials and techniques. The process can be instant or take endless attempts, and for me it is the passion that makes me try again. And again.
I construct sculpture by manipulating 2D flexible materials into 3D form using techniques from Origami, needlework and jewellery-making.
As a child I remember happy days tinkering in the garage "helping" my father, who was an engineer, or sewing with my mother who studied dress design and needlework. I spent endless summer days fiddling with twigs and grasses making "treasures" in the garden and pottering about.
I think the sculpture I make now is a mixture of skills I inherited from my parents and my busy fingers are still fiddling about, but these days in my studio.
I listen to the radio all day long in my studio and would feel bereft without it though I miss great chunks when I’m totally absorbed in what I’m making. When I’m frustrated and the work is going badly the radio is a perfect antidote to sculpture! I was once in an exhibition entitled “Radio 4 and the Artist”.
I spent a number of years making large scale work from a high tech roofing felt that had a thin layer of aluminium at the middle, this aluminium made the roofing felt extremely pliable and I was able to stretch folded lengths of it over welded steel structures to make abstract sculpture that looked as old as the hills. I was sponsored by the manufacturer who helped me with technical advice, but the day came when the industry moved on and this particular roofing felt was discontinued.
Carole Andrews with Villosa
Detail of Flora by Carole Andrews