Offerings is a solo exhibition by Coburg resident Fee Scroggie.
Strange spectres,
The ancient ghosts of ancient Gods,
Mythic forms pulling themselves into being from the mundane contents of a kitchen drawer,
These are the offerings that I present to you . . .
This show has come together from a productive couple of months creating strange figures from wire, masking tape, paper and feathers sitting at my kitchen table or during night shifts in the studio after my little boy had gone to bed.
It was a re-visitation to the realm of model-making which had started in 2015 when I was researching ancient European folk rites and costumes but did not want to have to work from photographs. Small scale models were a better alternative than having to dress up life models in my tiny studio and as I made them they took on a life of there own and became little works of art in their own right. I exhibited these figures alongside some large scale paintings at the Hidden Door Arts Festival in 2016, a few of those are on show in this exhibition.
I like to make the models in the same way that I produce my paintings, let the materials take on the shapes and forms they want to as they emerge from the chaos through a strange half-life and then into some form of clarity, I like to keep things as shrouded and mysterious as I can with just enough information to spark the imagination of the viewer to fill in the gaps. Tiny twists of paper and a few dried out twigs can create a universe, if the viewer is wiling and the maker is artful. Once the figures have taken on their form I can create backdrops and little universes for them to inhabit and use photography and painting to capture them in two-dimensional form.
Many influences inspire my work, mainly the ancient forces of nature and the mystery of the divine lurking in the edges of our reality. Recent years have been filled with research into hermeticism, the ancient European mystery schools, fairy tales and the arcane myths of our ancient British heroes and giants. Our world view may now be dominated by rationalism and science but the the old worlds are still here, deep and rich with mystery and magic, waiting patiently for us to remember them.
Don’t miss your chance to meet the artist on Sunday 1st September and Sunday 8th September 1pm to 4pm!
OPENING TIMES:
Saturday 31st August 2019 11am - 4pm
Sunday 1st September 2019 11am - 4pm
Saturday 7th September 2019 11am - 4pm
Sunday 8th September 2019 11am - 4pm