Reviewed by Cecily Bisshop
The precious self has always been safe, and I paint from there.
Cecily Bisshop — printmaker and artist, Toowoomba. This is 'Safe & Free'.
I am working as an artist, recently renewed from dilettante into an excited daily practice. I explore colour, shape and space through the infinite world of printmaking and various other mediums.
I am a member of Saturday Printmakers in Toowoomba. The group pushes me to approach my work from unfamiliar directions, held by the warm support and varied knowledge of the other members.
where the work comes from
My inspirations are rooted in landscape, cloudscape and seascape — all the natural ecosystems imbued with life and the presence of interconnected energy.
Our interior life merges with the place we inhabit, creating a multitude of overlays. We build our own personal narrative, and it morphs constantly — especially when we have the courage to work with our own joy.
Spherical and ovoid shapes are the strongest in nature — eggs, the womb, evolved to keep the young safe.
From the essential nature of physical matter, I have always been drawn to planets, universes, clouds, bubbles, ethereal space, atoms — the smallest particles to the largest celestial bodies.
I love the way planets are made: gasses of chemical matter drawn to each other, accretions slowly forming until there is mass enough to hold itself together, spinning. I love the inherent energy in matter across the vast spaces of atoms and galaxies.
I use the spherical shape in my artworks to hold that preciousness — dense with meaning, carrying gravitas, yet also the lightness of joy and freedom.
a recent epiphany
My fascination with beautiful globular bodies recently connected to a childhood that was precarious, unsafe, unprotected.
The realisation: kept inviolate in an indeterminate place in the body, above the pain, is the memory of self — golden, spherical, prismatic, all that makes us the best of who we are. A yearning for protection, and also for vast freedom.
When we step out of the pain it is numbed, but joyously, the inherent power and beauty of our precious self has always been safe and protected. I explore this limitless concept of personal iconography with elation.
Work with me
If the work speaks to you, or you would like to talk about a piece, I would love to hear from you.