WOOD WORK

from the Riddoch collection

12 April - 8 June 2025
Margaret Scott Gallery

Working with wood in one way or another is at the heart of industry in the Limestone Coast. It also plays a major role in the region’s cultural landscape. Wood Work picks up on artworks made from and about wood to showcase this significant theme from the Riddoch Collection.

In Wood Work we consider the labour, the hours and the elbow grease charted on the surface of these pieces, the long hours of sawing, carving, sculpting, sanding and polishing that chart the pathways of the artistic imagination to its finished form.

From Carmel Wallace’s rough and ready Wedge Forest (pictured) to the delicate and finely honed work of Stephen James, Wood Work celebrates not only the qualities unlocked in the material itself, but the process and legacy of its making.

Image: Carmel Wallace, Wedge Forest (detail), 2006, beach found cargo wedges on ply. ForestrySA Wood Sculpture Competition, 2006 Acquisitive Prize. Collection of The Riddoch Arts & Cultural Centre.