Anna Bonshek
Fascinated by architectural forms and sites that evoke inner resonance, Anna Bonshek is an established, award-winning (RSA, NEA, ISEA), Gold Coast, multi-media artist. Her projects explore connections between the organic and constructed world, between natural cycles and the enduring presence, or fleeting trace, of structure and life. “Enhancing the spectator’s experience of refined consciousness” (Meyer-Dinkgräfe), Anna’s art centres around the theme of creativity, intellectual engagement and compassion.
Anna Bonshek’s installation Friends makes reference to related entities of similar structure, but with different qualities and appearance. When there is more than one, there comes relationship—and beyond two, a collective. Reflecting each other, but with unique character, each piece, in its intrinsic material and form creates its own sense of presence. This work extends out from Bonshek’s earlier installations.
What sparked the idea for the work you are exhibiting at SWELL this year?
The idea of objects as entities, representing some difference but also structural similarity, and engaged in relationship, sparked this work which I have entitled ‘Friends’. I wanted to bring to this sculpture raw materials from around the place where I live and work, such as wood from trees of Ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon, which I understand is called “bigar” or “bigargah” in Yugumbeh language) and She Oak (Casuarina equisetifolia, or “Bilai” in Yugumbeh language).
What’s something people might not realise about the process behind your work?
We might take it for granted that wood is available for us as we desire to make things out of it. We might not realise that the wood is only the end of a long story; it takes many years for a tree to grow. Then, after the tree is felled, it takes at least two years for it to dry and be ready to work with. A whole life story is there in the wood. And with some elements used in this sculpture, wood is twisted in a spiral form. People may not realise that this spiral shape is caused by a choking vine growing in a swirl around the trunk, causing the tree to grow in a distorted fashion.
What role does location or environment play in your sculptures?
The place where the sculpture is located affects the presence of the installation. Having my work ‘Friends’ displayed at SWELL, at Currumbin Beach, I feel, is very special. It gives the opportunity for deeper meaning, created within the context of the ocean setting, where fundamental elements of earth/sand, water, heat, wind, sky/space, and the impact of sun, movement, moonlight, expose and situate ‘Friends’ as part of an expansive, macrocosmic environment.
Is there a moment or memory that shaped you as an artist?
I would say there are multiple memories and moments that shape oneself as an artist. A kind of accretion of moments coalesce and inform how one thinks about making art and what is means to be an artist. Being an artist feels like something innate. It just is. It’s to do with how one thinks and sees life.
Thinking back, I remember as a child I was fascinated with Leonardo Da Vinci—mostly his ability to span artistic, or creative, and investigative worlds. I also loved making mini environments in the garden. Curating spaces and living forms.
What keeps you coming back to sculpture as a form of expression?
The thoughts and ideas just come up spontaneously. Translating these into something is the challenge, not from the level of intention, but from the level of resources.
Coming back is not in question. Sculpture, installation art, are mutli-dimensional, about always creating something beyond.
If you could install your work anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
This is a difficult question, in a way, because there are places that it would not be appropriate to install artwork, say in an untouched pristine landscape, or sacred space, for example.
Being able to install an artwork outside the Tate Modern in London, as London not only serves as my place of artistic belonging, but here is a location devoted to encouraging people from all parts of the world to encounter art.
Come and see for yourself at SWELL Sculpture Festival, Pacific Parade, Currumbin 12th – 21st September.