Olivia O'Connor, Where Eagles Soar (ART & OBJECTS 2023)

Photos:

Olivia O'Connor (all photos) Karli Duckett (WHERE EAGLES SOAR - underneath shot AND IMG_7299.jpg))

Video tour

https://www.instagram.com/p/CspwHylOlGu/

The Victorian landscape and its wildlife inspire me greatly. The sight of Wedge-Tailed Eagles soaring high above and their shadows dancing across the landscape fills me with awe. Through my work I explore the connection between humans, nature, and enjoy the constant inspiration it provides. Carved from Blackwood, it has been such a treat to make one of my favourite creatures that I often see soaring above the paddocks on my way to my workshop. Making an animal from my local landscape, from local timber - what a joy! The two eagles are suspended by nylon fishing line, interacting with each other and the space they are hung in as they gracefully circle above your head, their shadows dance across the walls and floor. Due to time restrictions I decided to use an Arbortech plane, it’s not a piece of carving equipment that I’m used to using but over this project my confidence with it really grew and it worked great to rough out my shape, next I used many different rasps and shavers as I further refined the shape. Then onto sanding (ouch to do it before the hand tools but time was oh so tight!) and then hand carving in all my details and letting those delicious tool marks do their thing and bring so much texture and movement to the wings! connection between humans, nature, and enjoy the constant inspiration it provides. Finally finishing my favourite way, with a good dose of oil to bring out the lustre of the Blackwood. Eagle 1 has 92cm wingspan Eagle 2 has 78cm wingspan

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.