Sculpture & Artwork
Artist's Statement
Millie Wood Swanepoel is African and grew up on an isolated farm in Zimbabwe at a time when Africa was all that we image it to be. Since that time, the wildlife has diminished in numbers and Africa becomes more and more of a shell of what we envisage. This is the heart of her work.
This is not a sad tale, rather one of appreciation for the wildlife that has withdrawn, of observation of the boundary between human and animal. The scope of both these themes has become wider and no longer entirely African.
Appreciation of animals has often become loving humour that pursues the individuality, the character, the essence of animals, who use body language rather than words.
Throughout all this, it is the link between human and animal that is important; this link as a symptom of ourselves. The more diminished this link, the more blind we are to ourselves. Animals provide a context for our own interactions and behaviour. They remain a part of our lives though often unseen and not thought of.
Her abstract bag-like work is often mixed media with found objects e.g. horns, teeth, bones, wood, bark, metal is incorporated into the finished objects. The bag-like pieces are a statement about how humans are able to make pouches or containers from a variety of materials including animal skin. There is also a mystery of what a bag could contain. This is food for thought.
Technical Notes
Most pieces are hand built and most are fired to stoneware. Sometimes paper pulp or fibre glass is mixed into the slip and then fired.
Millie paints, makes collages and pieces from found objects that tell a story
IN THE GALLERY, work in The Malt house Collective, Salmon Springs, Stroud GL6 6NU - in the makers area
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING OR VIEWING OTHER ARTWORK OR SCULPTURES PLEASE CONTACT ME - TEXT/PHONE 07754 182 082 or
here Millie
EXHIBITIONS and display of work at The Malt house Collective, Salmon Springs, Stroud
Millie Wood Swanepoel MA(RCA) BA Hons(1st)
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Aa little bit of this and that
Exploring a variety of materials to create art that conveys a message or story
solitude £250
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