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25. Dianne Turner

Chandelier of Time and Face, 2023

metal, glass, ceramic porcelain

 

 

This installation reflects on the transformation of objects in time. It is a rescue chandelier, found binned in Parramatta CBD. Once an object of luxury and glamour, it has been subjected to the elements, weathering its previous shiny glory with rust. However, the remnant crystal pieces still reflect light, rainbows of colour, and a feeling of hope. Plants grow throughout its framework as nature continues the life cycle. The addition of translucent porcelain faces – spirit orbs – represent the souls that we remember, like my ancestral family buried at Rookwood cemetery.

About the Artist

 

Diane Turner has Latvian ancestry and currently lives on Dharug Land in western Sydney, NSW.

@dipey02

 

 

Transcription

My name is Dianne Turner. This artwork is titled Chandelier of Time. The basis for making the artwork is about objects and how they bring vision and scope for repurpose and renewal.

The French word “chandelle” translates as “candle holder”. The first documented example is described as a simple cross bar made from wood with candles on either end. Over time, chandeliers have been constructed from precious metals and adorned with crystal and glass, to become spectacular artworks and symbols of status by design.

The chandelier I repurposed in HIDDEN was found in a street bin in Parramatta. I felt compelled to save this object of beauty from going to landfill. As I carried it from the bin, walking awkwardly along the streets, the sound of the crystals gently clinked and chimed and the sun’s rays reflected rainbows across the footpath, as if the chandelier was thanking me for saving its life. The next life for my ‘Bin Chandelier’ was the happy occasion of my eldest son’s wedding where it was lovingly hung from a gum tree on a farm. Its crystals sparkled by day and by night candles flickered under the night sky.

Since the wedding, ‘Bin Chandelier’ had a life in a cedar tree in my garden, covered in time by vines and succulents that have grown in its glass cups with visiting birds perching on its arms. The once shiny metal is now rusted. This alchemy of materials and how they change when exposed to the elements is a study well known by ceramicists.

The attached spirit orbs are made in porcelain slip. Spirit orbs are described as unintentional captures of light and images within a photograph; often images of a human or animal face can be deciphered. It’s a somewhat new age, contentious idea; that these photo orbs are the spirits of those passed. I have captured these orbs in my own photographs and it interests me.

The orbs are modelled from clay, then I make a 2-part plaster mould; cast it with porcelain slip using fine porcelain because it is transparent and ethereal in appearance. When choosing the site for this sculpture, a hare (there are many at Rookwood) stopped by, nodded, and ran off. I take these signals as confirmation, so the hare sealed the deal and I felt compelled to give it representation in the artwork at the base of the tree.

Likewise, the ceramic flowers and angels were created to pay homage to the artists and craft movement of the early 1900s. These craftspeople decorate the graves and headstones of many Rookwood Cemetery graves and reflect on the changes in fashion and art from old to new. I’d like the viewer of Chandelier of Time to reflect also on how this object, while undergoing stages of transition and decay, created new memories and uses.