Bill Dorman
Bill Dorman is a Goulburn-based artist working mainly in metal sculpture and jewellery. Dorman’s recent works and exhibitions have explored his concerns around climate change, migration and the insidious disconnect of humanity from the natural world.
He often describes himself as being ‘in dialogue’ with metal, bringing forth organic character from the inorganic. He has an iterative approach to synthesising and developing complex technical processes, and is currently exploring the surface qualities that texturing and forming sheet metal through hammering and fusion can provide.
His distinct and socially conscious style has developed over five decades of technical and teaching expertise, and has seen him repeatedly invited to international artist collaborations and shortlisted for 2024 North Sydney Art Prize and 2024 Urunga Small Sculpture Prize.
Adrift
This work addresses the loneliness and alienation of a forced diaspora, using bowed heads and broken masts to speak of enduring hardship in these travellers’ journeys. Seeking asylum is a human right and often a horrifying ordeal. Dorman empathises with people in these situations by using groupings of five; his own family unit size. “Adrift” refers to the barely sea-worthy vessels with minimal propulsion and high risk, waiting to be found or reach the shore, and also to the untethered and homeless state of the occupants.
What sparked the idea for the work you are exhibiting at SWELL this year?
‘Adrift’ was born out of the stop the boats era of Australian politics as well as our attitude to global warming. Our policies around those who come to Australia by boat seem to be aimed at the most needy and marginalised people and established for internal political gain and division.
What’s something people might not realise about the process behind your work?
Many times the play and experimentation with materials and processes are just for that, the play and are not always initiate by story or form. Decisions are made and changed on the run, the story develops and unfolds as pieces start to impact direction. This play will lead to components that grow and change as the narrative unfolds in unexpected directions.
While the 5 boats in ‘Adrift’ were originally individual pieces in my mind they formed into a collective toward the end of the making process because they cried out to support each other in a lonely vast ocean. Interestingly the boat forms jumped out from the ridge capping of the original brass dome of the Goulburn courthouse, made in England in the early 1800s. While not important in the story in the beginning of the making process they wove their way into the narrative through how our laws have been used to traumatise these refugees.
What role does location or environment play in your sculptures?
Location is not always important to me in the making process however ‘Adrift’ always seemed to be asking for an expanse of ocean behind it. SWELL offered that with allowing the works to seemingly float out at sea and open up the story more to the viewer.
Is there a moment or memory that shaped you as an artist?
My parents were conservationists, social workers and artists who instilled in me a social and environmental conscience through how they lived their lives and the choices they made. Growing up with this and seeing how we treated the environment in the 60s and 70s first hand was at times shocking and distressing. Seeing my first clear fell logging destruction and sand mining operations as a child had a profound effect on how i saw our relationship with nature. Making art was a way i could unpack story, make connections and go within myself.
What keeps you coming back to sculpture as a form of expression?
I love playing with the many angles of looking into a volume as well as the fourth dimension of time, with the aging process of materials, that tells a story all while letting it grow.
If you could install your work anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
In the pool in the forecourt of Parliament House, Canberra. I want it to talk to power.
Instagram @billdormanart
Website billdorman.com.au
Come and see for yourself at SWELL Sculpture Festival, Pacific Parade, Currumbin 12th – 21st September.