helen earl australian ceramic artist

This participatory installation was an event undertaken by me during the 2010 Sydney Design Festival and was supported by Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney University. Participartion was open to anyone and it involved sitting down with the artist at a table and making a clay flower to add to the chairs and the synthetic turf carpet. The event was run over opening night and three  five hourdays. The aim was for the green carpet to become a white field symbolising the idea that through collaboration we have the means to enliven our personal and public spaces or gardens. What I did not predict was the sharing of so many personal stories about art, making with clay and the gallery and surrounds being a former mental institution as I sat and talked to people while they made their flower.

Don't sit on the Bloomin' Chair was the first work responding to the idea of the connections between our domestic spaces in and outside of our home. It suggest the fragility of ecosystems and how even in our own backyards we make decisions that affect the entire ecosystem of th esurrounding area.