Stardust (from my back yard), 2024

Artwork Statement
Stardust sculpted spheres are dorodango (mud dumplings), an ancient Japanese art form, traditionally a form of play for children. Created from common garden materials of earth and water that are moulded together by hand producing a seemingly magical alchemy. Making is slow, meditative, requiring patience. In the simplicity of dorodango we find a metaphor not of complexity, but for all of the richness of life, a memory of place, the connection of all things. Stardust (literally cosmic dust) are small particles of matter floating through space that are believed to make up all matter in the known universe.

This work was recognised with the Gordon Harris Art Supplies Merit Award at the 2024 Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards in Whakatāne.

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Recognition
Winner — Gordon Harris Art Supplies Merit Award
Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award, Whakatāne, 2024.

Judges’ Statement:

“Karen Sewell’s use of materials in space is simple, sophisticated and magic. Carefully balanced brass rod tripods, each held together with strands of wire, support dense handmade spheres of soil, sand, straw and clay. They are elemental and cosmic, adopting the ancient Japanese dorodango form in which children make ‘mud dumplings’ from soil and water found in the garden. Particles and planets are summoned together in this backyard activity that considers our place as components of the cosmos.”

— Andrew Clifford, Director, Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui
Judges’ Statement, Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards, February 2024

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