sculpture

Background: Weaver has contributed significant research into the Fine Art applications of textiles, in particular soft sculpture. Soft sculpture has its antecedents in Surrealist artworks, such as Meret Oppenheim's Object, 1936. Softness may also be associated with abject qualities: references to the body; to humble materials and discarded matter. Softness in sculpture not only refers to the materials, but also the forms, which are mutable and beckon touch. Moreover, softness in art emerges from the history of feminism. The word soft also suggests a quiet sound. In the context of these ideas, Weaver asks 'how can a soft sculpture create a metaphoric 'sounding' between the animate and inanimate'? Contribution: Selected for a national exhibition exploring the act of making through the framework of obsession, Weaver’s work combines techniques of crochet, papier-mache, wood carving and gilding with a cast aluminium antler, to create an imagined listening device to poetically capture and magnify sound. The work generated discussion around such diverse social concerns as climate change, health issues and human rights, and led to new research for future artworks. Significance: Curated by ADC CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill and Penny Craswell and presented at one of Australia's leading centres for contemporary craft and design, the exhibition was developed and toured under a Visions of Australia research (2018 - 2021) by the Federal Government's Visions of Australia program. It featured sculpture by Weaver alongside works by Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Tjunkaya Tapaya and Liz Williamson. A catalogue, film, and education program (lecture by Weaver) accompanied the exhibition. The exhibition was reviewed in the International journal: UK Crafts Magazine July/August 2018. It was toured from 2018 to 2022 to 13 regional and public galleries, with an audience of over 92,800 people and 6,595 people attending 75 public programs. The films were viewed over 14,000 times.