In keeping with my interest in tribal and other bizarre religious practices, I loved the little spirit houses that are out the front of many Thai dwellings. These 'Spirit Houses', it is said, trap bad spirits before they can enter the dwelling.
This phase didn't come all at once. I was invited to contribute to a group exhibition of teapots. These were supposed to be teapot forms made from the sort of media that would never hold tea, so was entirely conceptual. My contribution was this first piece below before I turned it into a spirit trap. I made it in one night. After the exhibition closed, I got pissed off with such an obviously useless thing and decided to turn it into an even more completely useless thing. The "spout" came off, the "handle" came off, and the spirits went in.
This phase didn't come all at once. I was invited to contribute to a group exhibition of teapots. These were supposed to be teapot forms made from the sort of media that would never hold tea, so was entirely conceptual. My contribution was this first piece below before I turned it into a spirit trap. I made it in one night. After the exhibition closed, I got pissed off with such an obviously useless thing and decided to turn it into an even more completely useless thing. The "spout" came off, the "handle" came off, and the spirits went in.
SPIRIT TRAP
I seemed to have this penchant for constructing fragile interior structures with things found in all sorts of places. Later on, I realized that this was a sort of personal expression that I carried over into the making of my vessels and later, in another field - Af-x and Clinical Affectology - in the perception of the complexity and FRAGILITY of the hidden aspects of human beings.
19cm X 19cm X 16cm
I seemed to have this penchant for constructing fragile interior structures with things found in all sorts of places. Later on, I realized that this was a sort of personal expression that I carried over into the making of my vessels and later, in another field - Af-x and Clinical Affectology - in the perception of the complexity and FRAGILITY of the hidden aspects of human beings.
19cm X 19cm X 16cm
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SPIRIT TRAP
Bark tanned cow leather.
Hand sewn. Hand dyed.
Tea tree wood, linen, cork, copper.
Approx 90 cm high.
In the collection of the Deutches Ledermuseum, Offenbach au Main, Germany.
Stands about 100 cm high.
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So ... these grew into what became a traveling exhibition around Australia. The show was called "Spirit Traps" (oddly enough), and not all pieces are shown here. The nicest thing, though, that I EVER heard about my work, was the curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum in Launceston telling me that many adult people walked past the pieces - disinterested - (as you would, I suppose) BUT, busloads of schoolkids came to peer inside the pieces and discover the intricate fragility of 'what may lie within.' Kids know!!