WEATHERED, WORN AND RECLAIMED

Rusty Moon by Denis Randall. Website here.

Looking back, trying to remember when I first became enamoured with old worn and weathered wood I immediately think of a large table standing in our spacious farm kitchen. It had a wonderful scarred and scrubbed surface with a shiny patina along the edges and there was always a wad of folded newspaper wedged under one leg to keep it steady. It was used for everything from the stacking of eggs, decanting of milk, kneading of dough, the stirring of cake mix, the cooling of jars brimming with hot berry jam, the making of sandwiches on dipping day, the writing of childish novels and homework, the sorting of wild flowers to press between pages of tatty cook books to the eating of simple suppers after the long drive from the city. I can remember my step father mentioning that Duncan, his father had made the table from old floor boards. This really intrigued me, since it actually meant we were eating off the floor!
Crusty Present by Denis Randall. See more assemblages made from reclaimed wood, here.

Wood Assemblage by Rumen Dimitrov. See more of Rumen's work here.

Driftwood Assemblage by Ngaio Lenz. See more of Ngaio's work on her Flickr photo stream, here.

Wood Assemblage by Alton Falcone. See website here.

"By transforming a ruined object (such as recovered wood) into a harmonious composition, the work becomes a symbol of the positive view of time: this is a history on which we reflect, learn and grow. This is wisdom." - Alton Falcone

Wood Assemblage by Alton Falcone. Website here.

Moving Day by Henry Deposit. See more of Henry's sculptures and assemblages using reclaimed wood, here.

New Foresty Module by Henry Deposit. See larger images here.

A Charmed Life by Henry Deposit. See more of Henry's work, here.

Keeper of the Words by Ken Munsie. See blog post and more images here.

Assemblage by George Peterson who creates works of art from reclaimed skate boards.

George Peterson. See more intriguing pieces made from reclaimed skateboards here.

INSPIRED BY TRIBAL ART

Kuba skirt at The Hamill Gallery

It all started when Maurice de Vlaminck was given a Fang Mask and he was so awestruck by its "primitive grandeur" that he wanted to show everyone in his art circle. When fellow painter Andre Derain saw it he had to have it, so he bought it from Vlaminck and rushed off to show Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse: Ambroise Vollard then borrowed it and cast it in bronze. Soon everyone was trying to obtain their own pieces of tribal art which began to influence the way they expressed themselves both in painting and sculpture. Thus a new spirit of freedom swept through 20th century art in the Western world.

Shell Cachet-sex from Papua New Guinea

Many artists are inspired by tribal art and I've gathered a few images that intrigue me.

George Peterson designs, carves, burns and paints old skate boards.

Hannes Harrs' mixed media collage made from old African textiles.

The Ngurrara Canvas. 10 Metres x 8 metres. One of the largest and most spectacular Aboriginal paintings of the Great Sandy Desert Region. read story, here.

Spade Sculpture by Roger Lee. See Flickr photostream, here.

Macrame from IRONIC's Flickr photostream.

Wave after wave has brought to our shores beautiful and mysterious treasures from unknown worlds: figurines, animals, fetishes, masks, ceremonial or useful objects. They are called Primitive for want of a better name...What could never have been written is there, all the dreams and anguishes of man. The hunger for food and sex and security, the terrors of night and death, the thirst for life and the hope for survival."- Dominique deMenil, Tribal Arts Spring 1998

Tribal by Rosalie Gascoigne at The Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

Group of my earliest totems.