Stephen Harrison, or ‘Rocky’ to his friends and followers, is a twenty first century renaissance man. A person who lives somewhere in the space between aestheticism and pragmatism. A slice of opal in a nugget of potch, an artiste embodied in a craftsman, a practitioner behind a performance artist.

Rocky has ‘the eye’, an ability see treasure in trash, a talent for recognizing beauty where many of us see bland. Just as Michelangelo could release David from a slab of marble, Rocky can find exquisite forms in materials discarded by others or in nature’s detritus. His deft touch liberates beautiful forms from discarded flotsam and produces objet d'art from, well, just objects.

Rocky is masquerading as a simple surfer. The casual acquaintance can fail to see the intellectual, the social commentator or the raconteur. Perhaps through his oeuvre of timber treasures you may glimpse the artist who creates them.

His studio in Port Elliot contains many treasures and has involved years of discerning collecting, there are projects in the making, experimentations with different materials and resolved works which are unique and not repetitive.

Stephen’s new work consists of wooden vessels where form and balance are integrated with the use of natural materials. They are created from recycled wood, which Stephen has then burnt and embellished. He is inspired by the Japanese sense of aesthetic and the technique of ‘Shou Sugi Ban’, a traditional Japanese method of charring timber with fire, which is then burnished with a wire brush to accentuate the grain.

The vessels demonstrate sympathetic and restrained use of colour and texture. Although they are functional, they are also wonderful objects that add warmth and interest to the viewer.

1. Potch is what precious opal is formed on. It can be grey, black, or even white in colour and is a hydrated amorphous form of silica know as a mineraloid.

Stephen Harrison

Location

Site Links

Contact

Stay Up To Date