By Cassie Maher
ART is far more than just paint on a canvas, according to Werribee resident Esther Cloonan.
The 59-year-old has just completed a clay sculpture of a female torso as part of her contribution for the Werribee South Gallery exhibition, Sculpture and Other Shapely Things.
The exhibition had its official opening Saturday and did well to convey its key message, art is whatever you want it to be.
“The exhibition helps to stretch people’s imagination a bit,” Mrs Cloonan said.
The grandmother of three has studied clay sculpture for 30 years.
“I was self taught until the kids went off to school, then I had some formal training,” she said.
“We used to have all my clay sculptures displayed at home and during the weekend up to 500 people would come through to have a look.”
Mrs Cloonan’s torso creation took up a lot of her spare time.
“I fired it with sugar to create carbon which makes the torso a black colour,” she said.
“Then I spent many hours compressing the clay with the back of a teaspoon to give it that shine.”
Since developing repetitive strain injury (RSI) in her shoulder, Mrs Cloonan has turned her attention to fabric sculpting.
“This type of art is a lot more relaxing and less painful for my shoulder. After you cut the fabric out you can just sit in the lounge chair and sew it from there,” she said.
Mrs Cloonan’s work plus many more interesting pieces from local artists can be viewed every weekend in April from 12pm to 5pm at the Werribee South Gallery.
Phone Clare on 9742 1878 for more details.
Arts in the West, Page 8.
