Brian Bertram studied art at the Julian Ashton Art School and the East Sydney Technical College before working as an artist, designer and chief of exhibitions at the Australian Museum in Sydney. He is first and foremost a sculptor, and has mostly worked in wood, terracotta and cast plastics. Following the Museum, Brian worked freelance, making anything from life-sized extinct megafauna to a x30,000 life-sized model of Euglena, a single-celled microscopic organism. Working with synthetic materials led him into film and TV special effects and prosthetic makeup.
Later Brian moved to the country and divided his time between working cattle, sculpting and bush regeneration. After a further move to the Murwillumbah area of New South Wales, he worked full-time in terracotta, making large figurative pieces, and publishing a manual on moulding and casting techniques. He has participated in many group exhibitions, including SWELL in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2019 and had his own gallery, Gallery 100, for a number of years. He currently works mainly in wood and mixed media.
2020 SWELL ARTWORK – Swamp Hens, Brian Bertram
Up close, this sculpture appears as a moody, overbearing mass, held up on a tangle of lightweight supports. From a distance a small group of birds becomes more recognisable, pointing out the effect of scale and distance on the perception of form.
Come and see for yourself at SWELL Sculpture Festival, Pacific Parade, Currumbin 11-20 September.