The saying goes, ‘a picture tells a thousand words,’ and in Carol Willis’ case, it truly does.
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The Moss Vale artist will share her visual stories with the community to spark some important conversations.
Carol’s exhibition, Drawing to Remember, is dedicated to a dear friend of hers.
“My friend, Rosemary, was a curator,” Carol said.
“She opened my sketch book and it was a dying promise to Rosemary that I would get these works out there.”
However, Carol said Drawing to Remember also had a second hidden meaning.
“You literally do draw to remember,” she said.
“You draw so it can be turned into a second artwork later such as a larger drawing or a painting.”
The main focus on Carol’s work is her passion to repurpose her everyday materials.
The creative thinker said she had turned her household spoons and jewellery into decorative masterpieces.
“I’m all about repurposing things,” the artist said.
“For example, my silversmithing displays are made from split teapots, broken jewellery and old chains.”
Carol said some of the necklaces that were broken were that old you could no longer replace the chains on them.
“Rather than having them go into scrap metal, I made them into something different,” she said.
She said the result was sculptural and wearable.
For example, she had used spoons to recreate the glasses of Dame Edna and Albert Einstein.
“Silversmithing is a joy - making malleable a metal, seeing its molten form is sumptuous,” she said.
Having studied a photography course, Carol was drawn to the rawness of black and white photography and carried that trait into her colourless sketches.
The drawings were carried out with immediate pen and ink, in particular, fountain pens.
Nature is a common feature in her sketches.
“I love trees and hate that we are chopping them down at a great rate,” Carol said.
Visitors will also have the chance to browse some colourful artworks at the other end of the gallery.
Take the time to observe these artworks though, as they’re not made out of paint – they’re made out of unused makeup.
Each artwork will tell its own story.
ICU is a painting of a giant eye and reflects Carol’s time in intensive care.
She said she had also dedicated a series of artworks to a friend of hers who undertook chemotherapy.
“It captures chemotherapy in its rareness – the hands on knees, head in the bucket stuff,” she said.
Carol’s exhibition will be at the BDAS from June 21 to 26.