TERRA MEMORIA

The body of the earth holds the history of its existence through deep geological and ecological time.

We humans are tiny in its long story.
Featuring  richly textured and layered paintings along with earthy raku ceramics, this exhibition by Fleurieu artists Gaynor Hartvigsen and David Woolaway explores our perceptions of time and memory. 

gaynor hartvigsen

The earth holds the memory of its  history through deep time. Unimaginable aeons of geological and ecological history are in the marks made on the surface of the earth and within the layers below. The passage of time is recorded in the body of the earth.
This work seeks to express my wonder at the incomprehensible and mysterious immensity of time and also explores ideas of how tiny we humans are in its long story and our huge impact on the natural environment.
The paintings evolve over many days and months as layers of oil paint, pigments and beeswax are added and sometimes partially removed . The inscribed and weathered surfaces echo the ever changing surface of the earth, it's long formation, the waters that have moved over it, the plants and animals that lived and then disappeared, leaving their traces in the rock.
On a personal level, I hope that these processes and paintings speak to our life narrative and emotional memory.

DAVID AND MArY woolaway

The body of the earth holds the history of its existence through deep geological and ecological time. Working with stone, earth, metal and fire, David’s artwork explores and embodies both the physical and literal incarnations of Earth Memory, ‘Terra Memoria’.

Earth, metals, and fire, combine with processes to capture the moment for ever. Geologically, from the birth of the Earth to this day, the journey is revealed. Every moment in earth’s history is recorded layer by layer within its geological profiles, fossil and artifact. For David, the process, the journey is everything. There are probably no better process driven art forms than Raku ceramics, and hand formed metal and stone jewellery. David conducts the sudden and seemingly magical transformation from one state to another during the Raku process, with its glazes of metals, textures and clay, layer upon layer working with stones to reveal their secrets and beauty, and combined with metals, David with his wife Mary, design and create unique jewellery art pieces.

These interconnections of materials born from stardust, and processes, provide windows to the earth’s past, its memory thus revealed.