Show celebrates nature and its imperfections

An exhibition by Amanda Temple celebrating nature and all its imperfections  opens tomorrow night at Masterworks. The show, titled Wabi Sabi, features a new collection of mixed media pieces and a five-foot pear sculpture made entirely from driftwood.

“I live by the sea, where the waves crash furiously onto the rocky shore below,” Temple said. 

“Some nights the ocean is so loud I can’t sleep and then there are some supremely silent days with barely a ripple. 

“The pathway down is pretty treacherous, but worth risking a fall as, once there, it is heaven. 

“Tidal pools are filled with life — urchins, West Indian top shells and tiny fish. Just above the high water mark, perfectly smooth pebbles gather by the thousands and the battered branches of bay grape, casuarina and
cedar become silver and speckled from the salt and sunlight.” 

Temple called on her mother and fellow artist Joy Blackburne to help her to create the pear. 

“I had an image in my head of what I wanted, and slowly it has evolved into just what I envisioned.” The pair trekked up and down the hill numerous times to gather the wood; then, piece by piece, assembled the pear.

A puzzle

“It was as if we were putting together a jig-saw puzzle. The pieces all had their rightful place, we just had to find them.” 

“Wabi Sabi is the Japanese philosophy that accepts, appreciates and admires transience and imperfection and the natural cycle of life — growth, decay and death. 

“I have always been enamoured with corrosion, dilapidated buildings and watching plants change through the seasons. 

“The pear and all the other pieces in the exhibition, celebrate the effects that time and the elements create.”

The other works in the show are mixed media on canvas and sheet metal. The canvases are given a textured base onto which Amanda has applied gold and silver leaf. Her photographs are then printed onto the metal and finally coated with a UV protective coating.

 “For almost a year I have been shooting, painting, getting messy and injuring myself. My house is a disaster and every surface is covered with canvases, metal, paint, pots of this and that, sandpaper and power tools. Tiny flecks of gold and silver leaf have floated everywhere and from time to time I look in the mirror and find bits stuck to my face. But it has been absolutely amazing and I have loved every minute of experimenting with the various techniques and seeing my photographs in an entirely new way.”

There are 40 pieces in the exhibit ranging in size from 8x8 to 36x48 and will be on display at Masterworks through 17 July.