This month, we're interviewing Thursday AM student Rebecca Kaiser as a part of our student profile series. Our student profiles have been great way to learn more about everyone's inspirations, backgrounds, and works, so please get in touch if you'd like to be featured.
Hi Rebecca—what are you working on at the moment?
A big block of limestone. It’s a first attempt using this material so the stylised bird I started out carving might end up being something very different. Should that happen, I’ll put it down to the stone speaking to me!
How long have you been at TBSSS, what brought you to the studio?
Nearly four years. I was given a voucher to the studio as a retirement gift... the best present ever. I grew up with sculpture in my life as my oldest friend’s father, Alan Ingham, was a sculptor. (Alan was Henry Moore’s assistant for four years in the early 1950s and when he came back from the UK he worked with Tom Bass for a while.) Alan’s studio and bronze foundry were down the back of the bush block in Newport where my friend Jane and I grew up. We were always visiting Alan in the studio. And my grandfather in Germany was a stone carver. I never knew him but I hope there’s something in the blood. Retirement has finally given me the time to tap into both of those connections.
What are some sculptures and sculptors that inspire you?
Henry Moore (and Alan Ingham) of course, Barbara Hepworth, Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi, but more particularly the work of TBSSS students. I just love being in the studio absorbing the energy of everyone creating in their own way.
What do you love about sculpting?
My professional life was in books. It was about words and the flat surfaces of manuscripts, proofs and covers. I love that in sculpture I have to think in three dimensions. I’m always uncertain and nervous when I start something new. There’s a lot of tentative dancing around the stone, but when I get into the zone it’s glorious and rhythmic calm.
What do you do when you’re not at the studio?
Lots of reading, lots of walking, some swimming, a bit of Pilates and every Sunday morning learning Taiko (Japanese drums) and making music with a wonderfully diverse mob through the Australian Taiko Academy. It’s loud and fun and certainly clears the head.
Thanks Rebecca for chatting with us!
Pictured above:
Left, Rebecca with her alabaster sculpture Twisted Sister
Right, "Nearly a Henry Moore, a small bronze sculpture by Alan Ingham given to me as a Christmas present [right], and last year’s attempt at an alabaster torso [left]."
