Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 2023
ceramic, metal poles, concrete
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About the Artist
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Transcription
Hello, we are Bridget Willis, Caroline Wright, Mandie Robertson and Sarah Robertson of Crackpot Studios and Gallery in Freshwater.
We are the collaborative team behind the sculpture Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow in HIDDEN Rookwood Sculptures’ trail.
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I am Sarah and I would like to tell you about our background and connection.
We are all potters and we met while training at NSW Tafe, Northern Beaches where we spent 7 years learning about clay culminating in all four of us completing the Diploma and the Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts (Ceramics) in 2020.
We then thought “what shall we do?” And so, March 2021 we decided to set up Crackpot Studios and Gallery in Freshwater to have a studio to work in together and a gallery to showcase Australian art with a special focus on Australian Ceramics.
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Hello, I am Bridget. As you might expect, our sculpture Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow is formed predominantly from clay.
It is made up of 3 large totems which have a base and a central aluminium pole. Each totem has between 40 and 60 hand-built ceramic flowers in the form of the iconic flowering shrub Brunfelsia Australia – more commonly known as Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.
A beautiful spring flowering shrub seen in so many Australian gardens with deep purple, lilac and white flowers. The totems are a representation of this shrub with the first totem having flowers of deep purple, the second lilac and the third white with a gentle transition of colour between each totem.
The totems are connected together by the Red Thread of Life. This is hand made from recycled fabric– knotted and wrapped around wire to form a flexible, strong thread.
The 3 aluminium totems were fabricated by a local aluminium specialist and consist of a tall post and base plate.
We had an interesting learning experience with the plinth for each totem. Initially, we were going to fabricate them out of concrete, until we realized that they would be so heavy that we wouldn’t be able to lift them.
So, we had to adapt quickly and have used a beautiful terrazzo planter pot which is placed upside down on the aluminium base plate.
In the end, this has worked so much better – it is heavy, but liftable, looks good and gives a lovely shape to the base of each totem.
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Hi, I am Mandie. I am going to talk to you about the concept for our sculpture.
It focuses on our transition from birth to death, with memories and connections that were made yesterday, our experiences today and our hopes and dreams for tomorrow.
The iconic flowering shrub, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow symbolizes our lifecycle – purple fading to lilac then to white across the 3 totems.
Purple signifies independence, creativity and ambition. Lilac is youthfulness and courtship and white is peacefulness, death and sadness.
As we wander through the passages of our lives, we are invisibly connected to each other. We are not alone on our paths.
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Hi, I’m Caroline. We feel our sculpture resonates with Hidden 2023 at Rookwood as it is about the cycle of life.
It stands tall among the graves of friends, relatives and strangers. So many people have gone before us, some remembered, many forgotten.
Everyone experiences something different when visiting Rookwood. It might be great loss, joy of a life well lived, interest in those that are buried there, overwhelmed by the number of graves.
But whatever the feelings, it makes us stop and think about our life – our Yesterdays, our Todays and our Tomorrows. We will all die, but what is important is how we live – that is what we should think about – making the most of our life.
We hope you will stop and look at our sculpture and pause a moment and think about those you love. Those that have died and those still with you. All our connections in life. Value them, don’t keep them hidden, but blossom together in a life well lived.