Art and science converge

Visual Arts, feminist theory and cutting edge science have converged at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) to form a very unique sculpture that will appear in the prestigious Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin until Sunday 24 September 2006.

Veteran Artist, Victoria Royds, created SpinFX (Mia – Inflorescent) as part of her Masters degree in Visual Arts at the University.

'I have just finished my Masters on the female body and the hand concept comes from some experiences relating to a 16th Century story called The Handless Maiden.'

Written by Brothers Grimm, the German fairy tells the story of a girl whose father cuts off her hands to fulfil a contract with the devil. The story follows the girl as she travels through a world formed by the intersection of different sets of rules - rules of family, of gender, and of magic.

'This topic actually started with some of my own issues surrounding the connection between the heart and the hand,' said Victoria.

As part of this journey, Victoria has cast over 60 women in the past three years, aged between 2 and 78 years. Mia is the name of the young girl whose arm was cast for SpinFX.

Consisting of 28 arms, the sculpture was made using Aluminium tri-hydrate filled acrylic resin and weighs 200 kilograms.

'I actually made a little bronze one as a prototype which has just been acquired by the Crows Nest Shire Council Arts Gallery.

'But I wanted to use the new technology and material that had never been used before as an art form.'

Given this Victoria contacted the Executive Director of the Fibre Composites Design and Development Centre at USQ, Professor Gerard Van Erp, in June to talk about the possibility of using their cutting edge technology to create a sculpture.

'Gerard was really supportive of the project from that original discussion and we have both benefited from the joint research – it has been a real learning curve.'

Victoria said she has also enjoyed the support and assistance of all staff members at the Centre.

'In early July Michael and I started doing some tests with colour on this material, but we ended up using white. The white looks good because the fingers become translucent in the sun, which is actually very beautiful.

'It's been great because it is very strong and hard and there is no other material I could of used apart from bronze, which is very expensive.'

Victoria studied contemporary jewellery making in 1976 and has been working as an Artists for the past 30 years. She recently graduated from USQ with a Masters in Visual Arts.

'I wanted to improve my sculpture techniques and also look at the theoretical side of my work.'

The Swell Sculpture Festival runs from 15-24 September 2006 at Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast. More information about the Festival can be found on their website: www.swellsculpture.com.au

Media Contact: Amy Cass, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2092 or +61 412 097 326