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Escape Artists is a creative collaboration between contemporary mosaic artists Caitlin Hepworth and Marian Shapiro. They tell personal stories with universal relevance themed on Escape and Displacement, as well as extending the boundaries of and accessibility to mosaic art; an ancient artform with diverse contemporary application. Using the medium of contemporary mosaic they explore timeless themes by referencing physical and psychological states, covering distance and time from both personal and universal perspectives.
Over the last three years. Marian and Caitlin have worked closely together exchanging ideas and processes producing a synergy which has resulted in a body of work comprising both individual and collaborative artworks where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Caitlin’s body of work navigates the transition through psychological states towards emotional freedom. Stemming from personal and community experience of natural disaster, her work symbolises the ability of individuals and communities to transcend emotional, physical and psychological struggles. This investigation takes the form of hanging and freestanding sculptural mosaics which reference ancient female warrior forms and the freedom and transcendence evoked by birds in flight. Marian’s starting point is the conjunction of her personal family history and the current refugee crisis. In the early 1900s her great grandparents fled Lithuania with their young children. They were lucky and found asylum. Over a century later, the story continues. Many millions of people are currently in flight all over the world, in search of a better life. Marian’s response to this is to examine the journey of people from one life to another, escaping from the known, to the unknown. Visually, her point of departure is multi-faceted, inspired by old maps with their tears and discolourations, the maps at the back of in-flight magazines and the migration patterns of both birds and humans. |
Sales InformationWorks are available for sale.
All works must remain in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition after which time collection will be arranged through the artists. If you are interested in purchasing an artwork you may contact the artists directly OR purchase through this website by clicking on the images of available works. Caitlin Hepworth - caitlin@hepworthstudios.com Marian Shapiro - mshapiro@dariandesign.com.au |
Safety Net?
Caitlin Hepworth and Marian Shapiro
Safety Net? is a series of collaborative work made over the Covid19 pandemic and explores the ambiguity of safety. It examines juxtaposed and often simultaneous feelings of protection and entrapment, safety and claustrophobia, externally imposed isolation and self-imposed seclusion.
Being removed from community highlights our fundamental need for interpersonal connection. The subsequent re-emergence into, and navigation through, a changed world poses continued challenges.
To view more details and the price of available works please click on the image.
Being removed from community highlights our fundamental need for interpersonal connection. The subsequent re-emergence into, and navigation through, a changed world poses continued challenges.
To view more details and the price of available works please click on the image.
17. Cradled, SOLD
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18. Self Made Prison, SOLD
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19. Eclosion, Available
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20. Veiled, Available
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21. Phase, SOLD
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22. Rupture, Available
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23. Cloaked, SOLD
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24. Safety Nest, Available
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25. Gilded Cage, SOLD
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Safe Passage?
Caitlin Hepworth and Marian Shapiro
The narrative of Safe Passage? is ambiguous telling of the journey from danger to what? Of displacement from the known to the unknown, traversing perilous waters in the hope of a better life. Who is travelling on the ship as it makes its way through stormy seas? Where have they come from and where are they going? Will hope triumph over adversity?
Made as a collaboration, this work was co-designed and then had its own journey to fruition being passed from hand to hand and back again until it reached its artistic destination.
Made as a collaboration, this work was co-designed and then had its own journey to fruition being passed from hand to hand and back again until it reached its artistic destination.
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26. Safe Passage?
2022 Mosaic mixed media, wire knitting 44 x 38 x 15cm This work is available to purchase. |
Flight to Freedom
Caitlin Hepworth
This series is a reinterpretation of the phrase ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’, which is commonly used to describe instantaneous primal responses during an individual’s exposure to trauma.
But what takes place after that initial, adrenaline fuelled reaction? The layered and complex nature of being human in today’s global community, requires more than the ability to run, hide or fight. Escape or salvation and the journey towards healing is lengthy and complex, requiring endurance, acceptance and resilience.
Flight to Freedom extends and inverts these primal responses after the adrenaline is exhausted to map the journey towards healing. The flight is neither short nor linear, the winds are changeable, and the freedom is ultimately a state of mind.
But what takes place after that initial, adrenaline fuelled reaction? The layered and complex nature of being human in today’s global community, requires more than the ability to run, hide or fight. Escape or salvation and the journey towards healing is lengthy and complex, requiring endurance, acceptance and resilience.
Flight to Freedom extends and inverts these primal responses after the adrenaline is exhausted to map the journey towards healing. The flight is neither short nor linear, the winds are changeable, and the freedom is ultimately a state of mind.
2. Conflagration, SOLD
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3. Losing Touch, SOLD
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4. Armoured, SOLD
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5. Ascension, Available
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6. Levitation, SOLD
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'Allo'ed Ground: On the Cusp
Caitlin Hepworth
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The tail feathers of the bonded pair of South Eastern Glossy Black Cockatoos symbolise family. Geographically displaced or confined due to habitat loss from bush fire and urban expansion, the birds seek out their precious singular food source, the seed of the scarce Allocasurina tree.
Habitat reduction from bushfire, and forest clearance, has seen these magnificent birds classified as ‘vulnerable’, and on the cusp of ‘endangered’. They are forced to adapt, either confining themselves to smaller patches of food-rich forest, or feeding and nesting in less accessible, unsafe areas in order to survive leaving them prey to peril. Seen here, rising together from the charred remains of home, the pair and their story become a metaphor for displaced families and individuals seeking new security and stability. |
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7. 'Allo'ed Ground ZW, SOLD
90 x 20 x 8 cm
90 x 20 x 8 cm
7. 'Allo'ed Ground ZW
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8. 'Allo'ed Ground ZZ, SOLD
90 x 20 x 8 cm
90 x 20 x 8 cm
8 'Allo'ed Ground ZZ
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Exodus
Marian Shapiro
The Exodus series is inspired by the refugee crisis. In many ways the current plight of refuges has been eclipsed in the public consciousness by the pandemic, but the issue is both ancient and ongoing.
The work springs from a conjunction of the personal and the political. The visual point of departure is multi-faceted. Inspired by old maps with their tears and discolourations, the maps at the back of in-flight magazines and the migration patterns of both birds and humans. The works explore humans caught up in events they can’t control, flight, movement, connections and rupture.
The work springs from a conjunction of the personal and the political. The visual point of departure is multi-faceted. Inspired by old maps with their tears and discolourations, the maps at the back of in-flight magazines and the migration patterns of both birds and humans. The works explore humans caught up in events they can’t control, flight, movement, connections and rupture.
9. Into the Vortex, Available
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10. Tracks of my Tears, SOLD
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11. Caught in the Net, SOLD
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14. A river runs through it, Available
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15. Full Fathom Five, Available
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27. No Place Like Home, SOLD
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28. Waters of Babylon, Available
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30. And the Waters Parted, Available
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29. New Beginnings, Available
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1. Continental Drift, Available
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New World Order
Marian Shapiro
This series of three sculptural pieces is a direct personal response to the recent/current pandemic. People were forced into limited parameters. Sheltering in place provided physical safety at the cost of individual freedoms. The circling clouds promise both a new day and a threatening storm.
Artists' Biographies
Caitlin Hepworth
Caitlin Hepworth is an Australian artist working in contemporary sculptural mosaic. Her work is thematic exploring narratives of regeneration, resilience and transformation observed through environmental and psychological perspectives. Caitlin trained in visual arts, majoring in sculpture at the National Art School Sydney, she then completed a Master of Teaching in Visual Arts at the University of Sydney. Caitlin has been represented in numerous national and international mosaic exhibitions. In 2018 she was the recipient of the SAMA Robin Brett Scholarship which enabled her to study with Maestro Verdiano Marzi at the Chicago Mosaic School in 2019. In 2022 Caitlin travelled to Eastern Turkey to participant in the International Mosaic Symposium of Adana. Caitlin is a leader in mosaic education in Australia and strives to increase the understanding and representation of mosaic art in creative communities.
www.caitlinhepworth.com |
Marian Shapiro
Originally trained in art and theatre in the UK, Marian has been a full-time working artist since 2003. Marian regularly works in series and is intrigued by the creative tension of using ancient techniques and traditional materials to make original work which is relevant today.
Shown and collected nationally and internationally, she has been commissioned by many private clients in Australia, the UK, USA and Canada and has public and commercial commissions in Sydney. She has been a been a finalist in many juried shows, both here and abroad, most recently winning Best in Show at the Mosaic Association of Australia and New Zealand’s (MAANZ) juried international exhibition in 2019. Her work has also been featured in numerous books and magazines and on television. She regularly teaches and speaks both in Australia and abroad and is currently Vice President of MAANZ. www.dariandesign.com.au |
Acknowledgements
With thanks to Curator Diana Robson and staff at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery.
Thanks to Michelena Bamford, David Fleming, David Lacey, Andrea Ketterling, Ernie Newman and Jim Stewart, Teagan Weaver and Linda Weiss for their assistance.
Thanks to Michelena Bamford, David Fleming, David Lacey, Andrea Ketterling, Ernie Newman and Jim Stewart, Teagan Weaver and Linda Weiss for their assistance.
