Exceptional New Life for Discarded Objects
Earlier this month an exhibit by artist Kylie Stillman (book art and paper carvings previously featured here) opened at Town Hall Gallery in Boroondara, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Kylie Stillman: Not fully or properly either of two things includes work drawn from the past twenty years, as well as new sculptural pieces and sewn paper drawings, all with an engagement to nature.
Pictured here with Verso, Kylie explains that it is a new scalpel-carved work created from more than two hundred books sourced from the Boroondara Library Service’s deaccessioned book collection. She studied painting at RMIT University in Melbourne, but found she prefers the challenge of transforming discarded materials by hand.
From the Town Hall Gallery media release: For this exhibition, Kylie draws on the sewing and garment construction skills she learnt at a young age. Stillman's practice explores what it means to show three dimensional forms on a two-dimensional plane.
Verso, hand carved books
Pictured here with Verso, Kylie explains that it is a new scalpel-carved work created from more than two hundred books sourced from the Boroondara Library Service’s deaccessioned book collection. She studied painting at RMIT University in Melbourne, but found she prefers the challenge of transforming discarded materials by hand.
Hexagonal Tessellation, stitched beads on paper
Making use of overlooked and discarded objects, Stillman presents everyday materials including sheets of plywood, aluminum window furnishings, furniture and books, reworking them by hand to prompt new interpretations and meaning.
Ladder, stitched design on retired books
Note that not all of the works included in this post are shown in this particular exhibit... instead, I mainly gathered images of her book art and stitched pieces... this is All Things Paper, after all.
Local Branch, carved book art
One beautiful exception is Park Views, an installation of a set of four Venetian blinds with thousands of pierced holes that allow the
light to pass through onto the walls and floors of the exhibition space.
Park Views, drilled designs on Venetian blinds
Park Views - detail
Kylie's exhibit runs through Sunday, August 30, 2020. At the present time, the gallery cannot be visited in person as Covid-19 Stage 3 restrictions have been reinstituted across Melbourne. However, one bright spot in this pandemic... all of us can enjoy an armchair view of the entire display via Boroondara's online exhibition, not to mention we can listen to Kylie describe it personally via this short video:
Big Picture, negative space grasses in stacked books
More information via Kylie Stillman's website and see her newest art on Instagram, @kylie.stillman
Simply amazing!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed seeing Kylie's work!
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