By REBECCA BILLS
AS you enter the Inner Gallery of Burrinja, you stand in awe of the four-metre high Woodhenge carvings that adorn it.
Nine wooden sculptures created by hills resident and Irish woodcarver Ronnie Sexton took six years to complete and are made completely of salvaged wood from the Dandneong Ranges.
Carved from cedar wood, the intricate pieces are adorned with hundreds of crystals, stones, rocks and 24 carat gold-leaf gilding, showcasing detailed symbols of cultures from across the world with a strong focus on the female figure in creation.
“The female shows up in a lot of them as mother nature and the goddess,” Ms Sexton said.
“There is great depth in each one.”
Ms Sexton said it took around three to four months to carve each sculpture and her background is in European Classical carving.
She said her original training was very disciplined, but she always knew there would be a time where she would take her training and skills and evolve it into her own style which was showcased through this latest exhibition.
“When I carve in the European Classical style, all the designs would first be on paper and then transformed onto the perfect piece of timber with no knots, cracks or imperfections,” she said.
“Now, I work completely differently – I work with the knots and the crack and incorporate them all into the overall design.
“Each slab now inspires me. I never know what they are going to be when the slab arrives, but I sit with it and it slowly starts to show me what it wants to be.”
Ms Sexton said she moved to the Dandenong Ranges nine years and the project was born after meeting a local man who was hoarding slabs of the wood she used.
“People get very emotional when they see them, the feedback has just been fantastic and that’s when I know I’m doing my job well,” she said.
The Ronnie Sexton Woodhenge exhibition will be running until 22 June at Burrinja’s Inner Gallery – Corner Glenfern Road and Matson Drive, Upwey.
For more information on the exhibition, visit www.burrinja.org.au.
