Previous Exhibition

Carolyn V Watson —
to have and to hold

Nov 14 – Nov 29, 2024

About the Artist      

In this exhibition, Carolyn V. Watson delves into the complex interplay between risk and opportunity through a meticulously curated series of tactile forms and objects. Moving beyond traditional visual appreciation, Watson’s work now invites physical interaction, fostering a profound, unspoken dialogue between the viewer and the artwork.

Crafted primarily in black, each piece is punctuated with vibrant accents—garlands, buds, openings, and floral motifs—that subtly disrupt conventional perceptions of material and form. These substantial structures invite intimate, hands-on engagement, encouraging viewers to connect with their weight, texture, and presence. By initiating this sensory experience, Watson invites reflection on the nuanced emotional and sensory dimensions that emerge within the shared space of art, challenging and enriching the viewer’s relational experience with each piece.

Howwwl (Halcyon howl)   2024

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Taxidermy foam form, steel rods, epoxy clay, antler, antler tips, sheep bone, doilies, lace, upholstery thread, ink, pastel primer, pearl beads, gold beads, flocking
60 x 55 x 75 cm
$2000

Sold

Pry my eyes (crackingcaw)   2024

Cow pelvis bone, epoxy clay, cow rib bones, sheep rib bones, pleather ink, pastel primer, pearl beads, half pearl beads, glass spheres, convex mirrors
60 x 30 x 45 cm
$900 Sold

Sold

A crest to rest the words within (jeweljaw)   2024

Unknown bone, hand formed epoxy clay embellishments, ink, pastel primer, acrylic resin fake teeth, glass spheres, gold beads, half pearl beads, tassels
160 x 31 x 12 cm
$900 Sold

Sold

Glorywhole (presentation arrangement)    2024

Antler pieces, epoxy clay, porcelain spheres, stainless steel spheres, hand formed epoxy clay embellishments, ink, pastel primer, acrylic resin fake teeth, glass spheres, gold beads, half pearl beads, ribbon, tassel
70 x 25 cm
$800 Sold

as it enters the lungs (littlepigtales)   2024

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Cow pelvis bone, epoxy clay, convex mirrors, stainless steel spheres, hand formed epoxy clay embellishments, ink, pastel primer, acrylic resin fake teeth, glass spheres, gold beads, half pearl beads, tassels
43 x 23 x 5 cm and 43 x 23 x 5 cm
$800

Once more, one more, once more (all in Id)   2024

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Taxidermy foam form, steel rods, epoxy clay, porcelain doll hands, sheep vertebrae doilies, lace, upholstery thread, ink, pastel primer, pearl beads, gold beads, convex mirrors, glass spheres flocking, rabbit pelt, tassel, reclaimed timber, hand formed epoxy clay embellishments
120 x 30 x 30 cm
$1500

The comfort of being heard (To bare what might have been)   2024

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Taxidermy foam form, steel rods, epoxy clay, cow rib bones, ink, pastel primer, pearl beads, half pearl beads gold beads, hand formed epoxy clay embellishments
90 x 31 x 46 cm
$1000

Sold

The comfort of being held (And there we were)    2024

Taxidermy foam form, steel rods, epoxy clay, cow rib bones, ink, pastel primer, pearl beads, half pearl beads gold beads hand formed epoxy clay embellishments
92 x 31 x 44 cm
$1000 Sold

Sold

Chemical reaction (lucid dreaming)   2024

Taxidermy foam forms, steel rods, epoxy clay, antler pieces, ink, pastel primer, doilies, lace, upholstery thread, sheep leather, felt, lace, upholstery thread, hand formed epoxy clay embellishments
55 x 23 x 48 cm and 86 x 45 x 15 cm
$1200 Sold

Insomnia alter (nightnight bear)   2024

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Cow pelvis bone, epoxy clay, porcelain doll hands, cow rib bones, doilies, lace, upholstery thread, ink, pastel primer, pearl beads, glass spheres, convex mirrors
60 x 30 x 45 cm
$900

Stage fright (Hinderlimp)   2024

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Taxidermy foam form, steel rods, epoxy clay, antlers, antler tips, ink, pastel primer, flocking
170 x 120 x 70 cm
$1900

About the Artist

Carolyn V Watson

For over 20 years, Carolyn V Watson has used her art practice to comprehend and chronicle her life history and experiences. Primarily self-taught, Watson was initially committed to an intense drawing and painting practice before experimenting with three-dimensional making to expand her art and her private ruminations. In contrast to the purposeful looseness and immediacy of her drawings, Watson’s sculptural responses make explicit the contemplative and multilayered nature of her work. Drawn to a grotesque feminine aesthetic, she employs labour-intensive methods such as hand-stitching, carving, moulding and assemblage to draw out physical embodiments of her deep thought processes and highlight connections between her inner world, her home environment, and the natural world. Cornerstones might include personal memory, natural history, gothic imagery, or the lush and unruly garden surrounding her studio.

Watson shifts between two and three-dimensional modes while working, resulting in bodies of work with distinct rhythms that repeat, echo and mimic reference points throughout. Totemic and ritualistic, they exist in the indeterminate space between the familiar and the foreign, the natural and the human-made.
 
Carolyn V Watson is an alum of the Queensland College of Art. Highly Commended in the inaugural 2021 Lethbridge Landscape Prize and a dual finalist in the 2020 Tom Bass Prize for Figurative Sculpture, she has won multiple awards at the Brisbane Sculpture Festival (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016) and Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular (Won – 2016, Finalist – 2017), and been a finalist in numerous awards including the Moreton Bay Regional Art Awards (2019, 2017, 2016, 2013, 2011); the Marie Ellis OAM Drawing Prize (2015, 2013, 2010); the Prometheus Visual Art Award (2011, 2009) and the Lethbridge 10000 Small Scale Art Award (2015), the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (2012) and the John Fries Memorial Art Prize (2012). Included in the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize in 2008, her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia since 2006.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS