RETURN OF SOPHIA In the late fifties when I was at art school in Melbourne, I tossed up between majoring in works on paper (2-D) and sculpture (3-D). Then, wprks on paper won. More recently, after thirty one-person exhibitions in Australia and overseas, culminating in one of my large body lithographs being exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1992/3, it seemed to me that my twodimensional work had come full circle. Although I made some terracotta forms in the fifties, I didn't become involved in bronze casting until the mid seventies when Eve, a half lifesize figure made in a fairly meticulous manner, was cast at the Meridian Sculpture Foundry in Melbourne. The next figure was that of Adam, more closely related in concept to Rodin's or Michelangelo's later sculptures where the figure is suggested through the fluidity of the materia I. I also made a number of Trees of Life which correlate with Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, expressing a return to innocence. One tree had small model aeroplanes attached to the branches, showing the evolution from simple early planes to Concorde. I also tried to express the essence of the pterodactyls and the natural flight of small birds. This work coincided with two-dimensional images in a handmade book of etchings entitled Fantasy of Flight which I made whilst artist-in-residence at the Riverina College in 1980. My sculptures that began to develop in the late eighties were based on parts of the tree, including the root formations. They have become increasingly more abstract and archetypal. In the series which I recently completed, it is as though I am fulfilling the second half of my artistic journey, grasping life with both hands-literally and metaphorically-and making objects that are related to Nature and Mother Earth. In the Greek myth of Demeter (Mother Earth) and Persephone (Spring), the polarities of existence, such as light and dark, life and death, fragmentation and wholeness, contrast and complement each other. When Persephone is raped by the King of the Underworld, Demeter, the mother, la~ents so much that the earth becomes barren. Finally, when Persephone emerges and returns to the upper regions for six months of every year, Springtime explodes and the earth is replenished. In this cycle, I see links with ancient myths, fairytales and stories from childhood, including the one I identify most closely with, my favourite, Alice in Wonderland. Alice is for a time too large to emerge from her dark tunnel to the light above. I also feel connected to Brighde (Bridget) the ancient Celtic goddess of fire, sacred arts and healing who presided over the hearth and the smithy (metal work). The use of metallurgy-and bronze casting-i see as a sacred art rather than its diametrically opposed use for warfare. I was born at the beginning of World War II when such polarities were out of balance and expressed themselves in life-threatening, violent forms. Over the years, as part of my bower bird activity, I have collected many items with which I feel an affinity. Included among these are ammunition shell boxes from Maribyrnong on the outskirts of Melbourne, near my birthplace. The artist is a vehicle for the creative process which expresses itself through the subconscious intuitively, and although the collection of these boxes seemed to be dependent on the suitability of their size and shape for displaying my sculptural pieces, their original use did not immediately strike me. The collection of items has been ongoing since my teens. Some items were included in the restoration of my home, while others (such as broken sewing machines, early car parts, fire hoses and agricultural items) had no apparent use or purpose at the time. I started to assemble these items, often combining them with my brof1ze sculpture until my studio began to Encircled Serpent (bronze) 1993 19
20 resemble a minefield-with pieces balanced together like building blocks before being permanently joined to each other. It was only when I went to New York and became concerned with the disposable and technological aspects of twentieth century living that I understood more fully what I was doing. There was even more available to collect there and I returned with over 40 printers' trays (compared with the half dozen I had been able to locate locally). I wanted to integrate items that had a dark, sinister purpose, as well as those that had a more constructive environmental purpose, thereby transforming them and giving them a different sense of being and energy. With the printers' trays I incorporated terracotta symbols of fecundity and procreation based on seed pod formations. In other boxes from my cellar, I placed a chopping board from the kitchen with milliners' and shoemakers' wooden models inside and a clock on top. The sculptures ranged from the daemonic and robotish, resembling miniature tanks and soldiers' helmets, images which had surfaced from the deep fabric of my subconscious. My arrival in the Southern hills of Adelaide led me to focus my attention on agricultural items and recently I have constructed seven goddesses (Earth Mother symbols) from such pieces. The faces have triangular forms which once ploughed the earth and, though unintentional, they seem to resemble bishops' mitres. It is as though they know their identity. In this way, objects and shapes become transformed with a new language, a new symbolism as aspects from the shadowy side combine with the essence of physical and spiritual celebration. I love machinery. I even brought back two etching presses when I returned from London in the early seventies and I have since purchased some very large lithographic presses. A few years ago a large cast iron item adjacent to a factory in an Adelaide suburb caught my eye. It was a large winch and Magma Seed Pods (terracotta) 1993 required a small crane to help transport it to my studio in the hills. It became the base of my first public sculpture at Riverbend Park in South Australia which was officially opened in May last year. The sculpture forms part of the Peace Circle, the symbols and shapes of which are archetypal and form part of our universal artistic heritage from ancient times. The upper part of the bronze sculpture is attached by three armatures to the heavy cast iron base, thus securing the sculpture and expressing a balance between the organic free-flowing shape (Yin) and the machine-made definitive form (Yang). One child said to his mother: 'At first it looks like a branch or root of a tree, but if you look more closely, you may see a dancing ballerina.' Riverbend Park has an overall feeling of tranquility and beauty where natural and man-made forms are integrated. The Peace Circle of which the sculpture forms part, has seven circles of tiles and trees symbolising the seven years of each age of humanity referred to in Greek and Chinese philosophy. The tiles form circular paths and cross relate to various heights and types of trees. On the outer circle is the Gingko tree which, like the symbol of the circle, relates to the earliest times in the history of our planet. The tiles were decorated by the seventy children from Clarendon primary school, supervised by John Sikkema from Happy Valley Council. Sculpture poses physical as well as economic difficulties for a woman but there is a female tradition going back to the time of Bridghe (Bridget) of women connecting themselves in this way to three-dimensional forms. There is also the contemporary precedent exemplified by Louise Nevelson, an artist in whose later life sculpture became the second part of her artistic journey. I identify closely with these matrilineal aspects. Noela Hiorth Return of Sophia denotes the return of women's wisdom, inspiration, imagination and intuition. Retrospective works and recent sculptures by Noela Hjorth were recently exhibited at St. Peter's Cathedral in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival and may also be seen during this year at Greenaway Art Gallery, Kent Town, South Australia and at the Melbourne Contemporary Art Gallery. Her work has been described in Noe/a Hjorth by Vicki Pauli and Judith Rodriguez, Granrott Press, South Australia, 1984, and in Noe/a Hjorth-Journey of a Fire Goddess, Craftsman House, 1989.
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