| Jared
Irwin, Trevallyn, Tas
Imogene’s
Crest
Huon pine, blackwood
1200 x 1500 x 450mm
Imogene’s
Crest is a chest of drawers made
predominantly in Tasmanian Huon pine and
mounted on a tall stand of blackwood and
within an open frame, also of blackwood.
The four drawers feature a continuous,
sculpted ‘river motif’ and
grey suede lining within. All woods used
were salvaged timbers milled by the Corrina
Sawmill, a specialty Tasmanian native
timber mill located in Burnie. Salvaging
as a practice has significance in Tasmania’s
current ecological policy debate, with
many opposing current unsustainable logging
practices.
The design was chosen to showcase three
methods of joinery. Due to the exposed
carriage of the drawers, the traditional
hand cut dovetails remain visible and
function as ornament as well as joins.
Compound mitre showcase joints (including
hand cut floating tennons) were used in
the blackwood frame that houses the drawers
and the stand consists of machine cut
domino joints. Joiner's Pearl animal glue
was used to bond the mitre joints and
also in drawer construction, a Triton
polyvinylacetate was used in the stand.
The finish is a traditional French polish
using de-waxed blond shellac to achieve
a durable gloss finish in keeping with
the river motif.
Concept
Imogene’s Crest is a self-reflexive
comment on the uneasy relationship between
art and nature and in particular, woodwork
and environmentalism. Made from salvaged
Tasmanian timbers (an unsustainable yet
preferable practice) and featuring a river
motif, the piece brings to the gallery
and asks us to imagine the fictional landscape
that it is named for. The Tasmanian landscape
contains within it historical and political
traces that offer themselves to design.
While traditional furniture and carpentry
skills were bought from England during
the colonial era, contemporary representations
of the specifically Tasmanian wilderness
focus on ideas of conservation, extinction
and sustainability. The design of Imogene’s
Crest mingles traditional or classical
methods with salvaged native Tasmanian
timber and the simple lines of Art Nouveau
or the Arts and Craft movement. The latter
was also interested in the representation
of the natural world through art.
Photos: Jared Irwin
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