Talking Practice: Karen Alexander's on her recent public sculpture

Congratulations to sculptor and TBSSS teacher Karen Alexander on her work on the recent large scale public artwork on the M7 Motorway on Dharug land, Maria Lock and Robert on Dharug Country.

Maria Lock was a Dharug matriarch and landowner who broke barriers in education and pursuing Aboriginal rights, as well as being the first Aboriginal woman in a legal marriage with a convict settler, the carpenter Robert Lock. These two bronze figures were designed in collaboration with Dharug artist and descendant of Maria Lock, Jasmine Seymour, alongside Balarinji Studio, as part of twelve new Aboriginal public artworks along Western Sydney’s M7 Motorway honouring Maria's story, her family's role in the Frontier Wars and the World Wars, and their continued enrichment of Dharug culture.

Karen Alexander, who teaches at TBSSS, worked with Jasmine Seymour and Balarinji Studio to "translate a line drawing of the two figures into clay in-the-round, as a maquette that was scaled up into the final sculptures. It was important to me to be able to work directly with the story-holders to bring the sculpture alive. What an honour to work on these two sculptures to bring this important history into form."

Congratulations to Karen for your involvement in this recent large-scale public sculpture!

Images and information sourced from Balarinji Studio, Karen Alexander's website, and Westlink.