Beverley Dowd

Splinter Contemporary Artists member for 16 years

From memory what was the first thing you made with your hands?

Growing up in the fifties there was never money for art materials. At home we used the backs of receipt books for drawings. The first object I remember making was in prep when we were given plasticine. It was a hideous brownish-purple colour, but I loved making a den like a cave with little creatures sheltering inside. I was sad to chuck it back into the box when our art session finished. Much later, at TAFE, I carved this woman from Murray Pine. When I’d only just begun, another student, male and very talented, said dismissively, ‘Oh you’re doing Mary and Jesus.’ Annoyed, I then created ‘Woman with duck’!

 

What are you making with your hands right now?

I love painting and drawing most of all. Recently I have been trying the centuries-old technique of oil glazing. It involves an underpainting in black, grey and white followed by up to 15 separate layers of glazing medium made from Damar Varnish, gum turps and cobalt siccative to which is added tiny amounts of colour. It is such a long process as each layer has to dry completely. (I only got to 8 layers!) At present I am having a go at screen-printing and ceramic sculpture with Japanese transfers. Very much a beginner here. 

Why is the art of handmade so important?

Something made by your own hands is a unique expression of yourself and it has a value and an integrity which machine-made things do not. Machine-made things can be very beautiful and where they display the skill of the original designer, they can also be a work of art. But only a handmade piece conveys the intimate connection between artist/craftsperson and audience/user. My mother was a very skilled knitter who took up weaving in her senior years. She wove the wall-hanging pictured, and as I pass it now, many years after her death, I can still see her working at her loom, totally engrossed in the art of handmade.

 

Photographs courtesy of Beverley Dowd, Lynne Hume and Meg Doller.
Beverley can be contacted via Splinter Contemporary Artists.

See more of Beverley's work at Splinter Contemporary Artists on Facebook.

 

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