One of the dogs from the Dogalogue exhibition, named Skye. Photo: Supplied.
Primbee woman Libby Bloxham was 40 when she graduated as a mature-aged student and became a professional artist 25 years ago.
Now, as a multiple award-winning artist, she’s bringing together works from throughout her career in a survey that will sit alongside a new exhibition of 28 life-sized dogs made from recycled materials.
Libby admitted Dogalogue wasn’t large enough to take up the entire Project Contemporary Artspace in Wollongong, which led to her curating works from across her career for The Fibres In Me exhibition.
“I was celebrating working as a professional artist for 25 years, so I thought I would do a bit of a survey of past work,” she said.
“I’ve borrowed some pieces back and some I already had.”
She said she had been lucky to have won many awards for her work along the way.
“Even to begin with, I went to uni as a mature-aged student and entered my graduating work in Sculptures by the Sea, and managed to win it,” she said.
“That launched me as an artist. I won quite a few awards after that, so it made me confident I could be an artist.”
Always having had a creative thread through her life, she had dabbled in everything from flower arranging to cake making.
“As my girls grew up, I didn’t really have a career,” she said.
“I was a stay-at-home mum, being on the border of when women used to stay at home and be mums.”
She said a friend suggested the creative arts degree at the University of Wollongong, having already completed a fashion course at TAFE, and led her to a style that was whimsical, conceptual and intuitive, and very much based on discarded waste materials.
It opened many doors for her, including running the outdoor sculpture event as part of the Thirroul Seaside and Arts Festival for 10 years, and performing with Circus WOW for 15 years, stilt walking at events and festivals.
“I think I was 47 when I joined the circus,” she said.
Libby admitted age now made it more difficult to attempt large-scale art, and expects Dogalogue to be one of her last bigger art collections.
She said Dogalogue had a couple of influences, the first being a drawing by her daughter when she was eight of the family dog.
“It had a coat on with all kinds of accoutrements on it, and it had wings. I just loved it,” she said.
“Then there was also this set of wooden legs that were left in my father-in-law’s workshop, after he passed away – the ones with the lion’s claw-foot at the bottom on a ball, and engraved.
“I just thought the shape of them would make good dogs’ legs.
“I had them for 20 years, and I’d been thinking I would make dogs one day.”
Dog Tora from the Dogalogue exhibition and one of Libby’s previous works celebrating diversity. Photo: Supplied.
Libby said most of the dogs had either logs or planks with wire cages for their bodies, table, chair or footstool legs collected from neighbourhood waste piles, tip shops and op shops, and fur coats, jackets, cushions and floor rugs for their coats.
She said she was also led to do the work because of a love of dogs and questioning the ongoing humanising of them with puppy preschool, doggy day care, birthday parties, and wardrobes of outfits.
“I am also interested in the way we have controlled and bred them, making them what they are today, even to their detriment in some cases,” she said.
“In assigning them human characteristics, I am using humour to speak about this.
“Dogalogue is a play on the words dialogue and catalogue, so I guess I’m letting the dogs speak.”
She said many were also crossbreeds, which spoke to the ongoing anthropomorphism of dogs.
Alongside the exhibition is a book of short stories, inspired by putting elements on the coats that defined their personalities as a humorous way of speaking about anthropomorphism.
“I found some little stick people on people’s chuck-out pile up the road, and as soon as I saw them, I could imagine them riding on the dog’s back,” she said.
“So they became little miners who live up in the Snowy Alps, and they’re climbing on the back of one of the snowy type dogs. So then I wanted to write a story as to why that was happening.
“I never planned to write stories when I planned to make the dogs. In fact, I thought I might have made eight dogs and I ended up with 28.”
As part of the exhibition, Libby will also run a kids workshop using recycled materials, and visitors will also be encouraged to bring a picture of their own dog to put on a gallery wall.
“With these dogs, for me they’re one work of art and I would absolutely love for them to be able to stay together on permanent exhibition somewhere,” she said.
She is also looking to secure a grant to tour it to regional areas where she could support local dogs’ homes.
Libby Bloxhall’s Dogalogue and The Fibres in Me will be held at Project Contemporary Artspace in Wollongong from 17-28 June.
