Great Aunt Nellie

Great Aunt Nellie

I will always remember great Aunt Nellie as

having tiny wrists with a mass of beautiful,

jangling bangles! She also smelt great and was

always elegantly dressed. She lived in Kings

Cross, Sydney, Australia.

I recall when I was around 13 years of age,

giving her a framed charcoal artwork I had

done at art school. She very much

appreciated the portrait at the time, so now it

gives me the greatest of pleasure to dedicate

this sculpture to great Aunt Nellie.

In my sculpture, I have used a jewellery box

that my father gave to my mother when they

first got married for the dummies finial. It

ended up in the garage with nails in it, so I

have restored the box then lined it in purple

satin and hand beaded the interior of the box.

I have used an old chandelier for the top of the

box and hand beaded the wire to give it

prominence.

I hand built the chest of great Aunt Nellie as a

jewellery box. Both the front and the back of

the box open up to store either jewellery

or perfume. The inlaid pieces on the four

doors are reminiscent of Charles Rennie

Mackintosh’s “Ladderback” and

“Willow”chairs. I handmade all the tiny

door handles in wood and painted them in

metallic silver and gold.

Medium: Wood, jewellery box, table,

chandelier part, fabric, lace, beads,

perfume bottles, crocheted metallic

thread and wire, paint

Size: 1770 x 830 x 430

Year: 2012

An old table forms the hips of the dummy and I

have built the legs as a shelf to store perfumes.

Old painted lace forms the skirt and I have

crocheted fine metallic thread and wire all

over the work to give the effect of clothing on

great Aunt Nellie.

The base is built of wood covered in old

painted lace and old perfume bottles that I

asked friends and relatives to give me as a

memento. Special mention must be given to

my friend Glynn’s generous contribution of all

those miniature bottles of scent.

This work is another in my “Aunt Series” that I will

be producing throughout my entire life as a

dedication to those strong, eccentric women

who had amazing personalities and lived life to

the full!

Geometric Series

Geometric

Series Geometric Series

Geometric Series Geometric Series

Metal Bikinis

Great Uncle John draped in Charles James

Paco Rabanne consumed by dog eat dog world of fashion

Charles James in bookish mode