Denese Oates

Arboreal
click here to see images from exhibition
recent sculpture August 2022

Stella Downer Fine Art
1/24 Wellington Street, Waterloo, NSW 2017


Thrive  copper, burnt branch, 77 x 120 x 15 cm

The work in this exhibition is both a celebration of landscape, and a lament of the way humanity treats the natural world.

Results of bushfires are visually fascinating despite the devastation.  Textures and colours found in the aftermath, and the signs of regeneration rising from the ashes have been influential in the making of these sculptures. The play of leaves in branches, scars and stains on bark, the texture of burnt wood represented here pay homage to the environment.

The contrast of new growth and burnt vegetation is shown in the materials used. These include recycled copper fashioned into twigs and leaves, discarded grapevines, spent gum nuts, remnants of burnt wood from the forest floor, all of which represent nature; and found materials such as an old WARNING sign, hat blocks and shoe lasts.

EVOLVE 2022 Copper & hat block 30 x 19 x 165 cm

EVOLVE 2022 Copper & hat block 30 x 19 x 165 cm



LANDSCAPE in SCULPTURE

Beaver Galleries, ACT   14-31 October 2021

Sugarloaf Tree – 2020 – copper on corten steel base – 170 x 90 x 90 cm

STICKBAG TREE

STICKBAG TREE
Copper on corten base 200 x 80 x 104cm

PHOENIX TREE

PHOENIX TREE
Copper & corten steel 168 x 115 x 60cm

CURVEDGE

CURVEDGE
Grape vine, copper, marble 40 x 12 x 7cm

WOVEN SOLACE

WOVEN SOLACE
Copper 34 x 34 x 34cm

TRUNCATED

TRUNCATED
Copper 48 x 30 x 30cm

SPRING BLIP

SPRING BLIP
Copper 41 x 20 x 20cm

FOOL ON THE HILL

FOOL ON THE HILL
Copper, brass 35 x 20 x 20cm

EPI-CACOPHONOUS

EPI-CACOPHONOUS
Copper 34 x 34 x 34cm

FROM THE ASHES

FROM THE ASHES
Copper & corten steel 95 x 65 x 75cm

NASCENT WEIGHT

NASCENT WEIGHT
Grapevine, copper, iron weight 51 x 17 x 17cm

WHEEDLE VINE

WHEEDLE VINE
Grapevine, copper 19 x 60 x 18cm

KNOBBY CIRCLET

KNOBBY CIRCLET
Grapevine, copper 66 x 52 x 16cm

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”

William Blake

Canberra Times Review of Landscape in Sculpture


REACH at the ninth Western Sydney
University Sculpture Award and
Exhibition
7 May – 6 June 2021


REACH at WSU 2021

REACH is a sculpture made from copper and corten steel representing vegetation emerging from rocky outcrops as often seen in arid areas of Australia. The resilience of the trees growing from barren rocks is one of the miracles of nature. The work is not a realistic depiction, rather an interpretation of the stark contrast between the hard dry rocks and the fleshy green vegetation sprouting from them.

Kimberley grass & boulders

Kimberley grass & boulders

Kimberley grass & boulders

Kimberley grass & boulders

Japanese grass fields

REACH Sketch

REACH charcoal sketch

REACH in progress

REACH in progress

REACH in progress

Reach grass in progress – April 2020

REACH – steel boulders & grass

Reach on the move

Reach setup — May 2021

Reach setup — May 2021

REACH at WSU 2021

REACH at WSU 2021

REACH – view to WSU lake

REACH at WSU 2021

REACH grass & view of WSU lake

REACH, detail

REACH, detail