CHRISTINE SPEDDING & leigh arnold
Christine Spedding holds a BA in Art and Design and is a prominent figure in the artistic community of Regional Northern NSW. Being on the Asperger’s spectrum, Spedding has always been fascinated by pattern and colour. Recently, she has developed a love for string, incorporating it into her creative practices, from intricate works to large-scale installations. Her recent body of work features black light and string, reminiscent of iconic 1970s art. Spedding’s passion, attention to detail, and ability to think outside the norm are evident in her captivating pieces.
Can you describe your creative process from concept to completion?
as one part of a creative team with Leigh Arnold our process is a series of works that we both create individually and together. these works stimulate and influence the next part of the installation. we bounce off each other beautifully, often we would both go off and do our own thing and come together to find we have done the same things, it makes us laugh and spurs us on
Where do you look for inspiration? What themes do you find most interesting?
being both on the Aspergers scale our inspiration comes from what interests us the most. Leigh is a constant doer and loves maths, the way he brings ideas forward is truly amazing. while I love constructing and my work is more string-based, which works so well together with maths and string the culmination of works seems never ending
What role does location or environment play in your sculptures?
our works are made not only to be displayed within the sterile gallery but work amazingly well in specific environments. the relationship to nature although not obvious is an integral part of our works we aim to make bodies of works that last and that interactive and interchangeable, this makes them versatile and unique no matter where they are displayed
How do you feel when you see people interacting with your sculptures?
there is nothing more exciting or exhilarating then when someone stops… this is amazing because we have created something that people take time to stop to contemplate, take a selfie or a group photo meaning the interactions are real.We live in this overstimulated overwhelming life of constant bombardment of stimuli and for people to even pause for a moment is pure joy to us as artists
Describe your dream project.
i think our dream project would be the Sydney Biennale, a whole humongous building space decorated with our constructions intermingled with hanging string structures, vertical and horizontal lines of glow tape, along with maybe a smoke machine and viewed under Ultraviolet lights a place people could get lost in meander through and have a full artistic experience, gets exciting to think big
Website christinespedding.art
Come and see for yourself at SWELL Sculpture Festival, Pacific Parade, Currumbin 6th – 15th September.