Sea Stories

The Sea Stories Journey

Sea stories began long before our first meeting in Michaye’s studio at Salamanca on a fine spring morning towards the end of 2011. Each of the artists have a long association with the sea: from the distant Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans, to local bays of Bruny Island and closer estuarine environs, in the margins where the land and sea meet. The experience of the ocean/sea/river leaves visceral traces that underpin their work in a range of ways, and this exhibition provided a platform to explore and expand this sphere of influence.

All the stories start from childhood: Michaye grew up on a boat, sailing the world with her parents and younger sister; Karin’s dreams of journeys to Antarctica led to her career as a scientist on expeditions in the Southern Ocean; Linda’s summers at the family shack involved days of pottering around on boats; while Sally explored the wilderness of Melaleuca in clinker rowing dinghies.

The four artists were introduced through a collaborative project for the Alcorso Foundation, in which they worked in pairs to produce a single object. Linda created a miniature Sea Chest that was lined with an exquisitely fine painting by Michaye, while Karin and Sally combined their respective design sensibilities and technical skills to create the organic-shaped sculptural vessel, Upwelling. Sea stories aimed to extend the creative process that had been initiated by these earlier projects, but it was intended that the process of collaboration would develop organically, rather than be specifically prescribed.

The combination of jeweller, painter, object and furniture designers proffers a diverse range of skills, but each shares similar sensibilities and a generosity that allowed inspiration to be drawn from each other’s work. The collective experience and love of the sea provided a raft to float discussions and from which to chart a journey of discovery.