Nancy Whittaker, Tarrangower Times

Last Sunday it was my delight to chat to Mark Wardle, who is the inaugural featured artist in the new MANet* Arts Focus Gallery at 27 Main Street, next door to the Ice Cream shop. Mark is one of the eight artists who are part of the collective who show their work in the gallery.

Mark is quite the renaissance man as he is so much more than a genius creating works of art out of any well-seasoned wood he can find, including on his wood heap. 

I first met Mark when he was conducting short filmmaking classes at the Maldon Neighbourhood Centre. At that time, about 10 or more years ago, he had relatively recently retired from teaching Media at Gordon TAFE in Geelong. He was also providing lessons in making and playing the banjo online, using his media skills. 

While last Sunday, apart from playing his guitar or drawing while in the gallery, he had another gig over the road later in the day as MC at 48 Main. 

However, his creative use of woodturning embellished with texture or carving is what we are concentrating on. He has always enjoyed working with wood trying to bring out the natural beauty of the material whilst also working with the inherent imperfections that wood contains. Many of his pieces start with preliminary sketches that are inspired by organic forms or different styles of graphic art. He has always enjoyed the challenge of adapting these elements into turned work. Mark said he is influenced by classical Greek pottery shapes and African pots.  

Olive and Redgum Finial Box, Square redgum handled bowl, Carved Rim Bowl with hand painting between the dark shapes. Photos: Mark Wardle

In this retrospective exhibition, you will see many ways in which he has approached this challenge. “It is my hope that the visitor will enjoy the many ways in which I have come up with ways to express these adaptions on turned work and also enjoy the contrast between the very delicate pieces and others that reflect the ruggedness and brutality of trees that grow in Australia’s often-harsh environments.” 

Together with the exhibition of woodturnings will be some of Mark’s graphic art and a kinetic sculpture (also made from wood) called ‘The Marble Steps’. 

In describing the patterned edges on one of his bowls he said that he makes the dark stain using steel wool dissolved in cider vinegar on a bowl made from a red gum fence post. There are about three stages to making such a bowl, including the preliminary design, then turning the wood on a lathe, hand carving detail and adding dark colour to the recessed parts of the design areas, then polishing the rim to ensure the raised part is lighter.     

He uses fruit woods such as mulberry, apple, walnut, almond as well as banksia and she-oak, which are kinder to his chisels than red gum and yellow gum. The harder woods mean you must sharpen your chisels much more often, and all require protective masks and face shields, as well as a shirt held tightly around his neck by velcro. 

Marble Steps (left), Bowl with hand turned wooden eggs (top), Carved rim bowl – using Steel wool dissolved in vinegar to colour the dark carved detail.
Photos: Mark Wardle

Mark visits a Bendigo woodturning workshop once a week to use their more specialised lathes and scroll saws to cut out intricate shapes as in the edges of the square round bowl. All his forms are parabolic.

He finds carving very cathartic as it is quieter compared with lathe work. You can listen to the birds while you work. He uses a jeweller’s saw to do fret work and different grades of sand paper to gain a smooth finish, before polishing the finished objects with beeswax and vegetable oil.

Do yourself a favour and drop into the gallery after you have admired Edna, the glittering kangaroo homage to Edna Everage in the window. The gallery is open from 10am to 4pm Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and most public holidays. Don’t miss the official opening on Friday 30 June at 5pm.

The gallery is open from 10am to 4pm Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and most public holidays.

Glossary: *Maldon Artists Network

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 30 June 2023.