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“Her art has a beauty and an ineffable dimension which is distinct from and not imitative of nature. It is the transparent artifice of her assemblages which isolates and re-contextualises each small natural element so that its beauty can be perceived.This effect is sometimes called the heightened reality of art.”
Margot Osborne 2010
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Shona Wilson is a contemporary Australian sculptor, who has engaged with natural found material to create both abstract and representational
2-D assemblages and 3-D sculptures for over 30 yrs. Her practice shifts between indoor studio works and outdoor ephemeral work.
Shona currently lives and works in Sydney - Guringai Country - and is represented by Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
artist's statement
Bridging Culture and Nature
Studio Practice | Ephemeral Land Art
From the visible to the invisible, natural phenomena inspires and helps create my work. Creating with Nature's overlooked fragments, brings me closer to understanding the world we share. These materials are storehouses of knowledge and information. They act as 'keys', unlocking doors to memory, science, history and imagination. Exploring our world through the myriad of natural found materials collected, observed or arranged in my day-to-day life is a continuing theme and motivation for my art practice. My work is an invitation to marvel and wonder at the details within nature which I present predominantly through sculptural assemblages.The mirroring between the micro/macro world and the human/natural world captivates me, discovering connections and resemblances everywhere. The intersects between art, nature, science and spirit are potent environments to research and play within. Art making can become a ceremony.
More recently, and the result of residencies in Spain and Bhutan, my work is shifting to explore the intersects beween the Human and Natural world.
A new body of work titled Strange Terrain is currently in progress.
NEWS
2026
"Magical Apparatus For Waryinding in The Unknown" or "Compass for the Heart "
This series of works made whilst in Residence at Paro College of Education in Bhutan for 6 months of 2025 are being reassembled ready for showing.
Artist Statement 2025
"During my six-month residency at Paro College of Education, I entered an unfamiliar landscape of culture, rhythm, and meaning. Without the references and routines of home, I found myself standing in a space of unknowing — a space that invited humility, listening, and deep respect for Bhutan’s rich cultural heritage. This period became a personal and artistic practice of wayfinding, shaped by cross- cultural learning and an appreciation for Bhutan’s living traditions.
This body of work grew from an intuitive engagement with Bhutanese offering objects known as Namkhar or Dö, together with materials such as bamboo and reflective or electrical tape. I sought cultural permission to use these religious objects prior to undertaking my engagement with them. I was advised it was allowed if the objects were new and hadn’t been used in previous rituals. In fact my novel repurposing of these objects was met with delighted surprise by many, opening up new contexts and ideas for what could be utilized as ‘art materials’.
These assemblages began to resemble sky maps or navigational structures — forms that helped me orient myself in a time of unfamiliarity. As I learned more about Namkhar traditions, I was moved to discover that the term relates to Space, and that their colours symbolise the five elements — Earth, Fire, Water, Wind/Air, and Space. Understanding the role of these objects in harmonising inner and outer balance deepened my respect for their cultural and spiritual significance.
Inspired also by the gorgeous colours and motifs of the Bhutanese kira — including patterns known as pigeon’s eyes, fly wings, and monkey’s nails — as well as Polynesian navigational practices and celestial mapping, I created structures that explore how form can express the formless. They reflect the paradox of navigating the Unknown while honouring the traditions and cosmologies that guide Bhutanese life."
Myself and Residency directors Tashi Wangmo (RHS) and Khenpo Ngawang (LHS). in the Art Space Studio in Paro College - end of Residency showcase
Diamond Life - Kira pattern inspired assemblage wall sculpture
2025
AUG
SUMMER MANTRA and SUMMER YANTRA
Two new works will be included in Arthouse Gallery's 30th Anniversary Show , PART TWO Aug 21- Sept 14.
Artist Statement:
The coalescence of multiple life cycles of different species of Cicada, all around the world, expressed itself with an unforgettable event which signified the summer of 2024/ 2025 in Australia. This pair of works evolved from that extraordinary experience. Waves and walls of sound, pulses and drones of piercing volume filled the air, and the remains of the ‘singers’ short lives’ littered the shorelines around my home. These sounds would become a mantra, a meditation, a hypnosis of sorts. The patterns on the wings of the Cicadas seemed to visually express the charge and frequency of that intense vibration, all zig-zags and pulses, a yantra.
The sacredness of life is expressed and remembered in these two works Summer Mantra and Summer Yantra. Mantra is the expression of the subtle pattern underlying the manifestation of reality expressed in the form of sound. Yantra is the expression of the subtle pattern underlying the manifestation of reality expressed in the form of shape.
Shona Wilson 2025
SUMMER YANTRA SUMMER MANTRA - DETAIL SUMMER MANTRA
2024
AUG
Happily I have two ephemeral works incuded in the outdoor photographic exhibition in Cantabria Spain. Equinox and River Rock Diamond are part of an international curation of Nature based artworks in ART AND NATURE IV, curated by Smpro Art and the Natural History Museum of Cantabria.
AUG
Excited to be a finalist and win THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD in the Works on Paper section of the Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize this year with this work titled PRECIOUS.
Artist Statement:
I collected these insect wings and parts over a couple of decades and always squealed with delight at the chance findings. Having stored them for so long I decided to use them in a single work. Each specimen I found was a precious jewel, both in appearance and in function. The shape they form overall is also like a jewel, glistening, alluring and beautiful.
During the making of this work, I started more consciously looking for more dead specimens to include. To my surprise and sadness I realised just how few insects were around, and also, how few I had found in the last 10 years. I live regionally in an area surrounded by National Parks, in a ‘healthy environment’ – so where are the insects?
Insects are particularly susceptible to changes in temperature and moisture. They are experiencing what some scientists term an Insect Apocalypse. This work is a
lament and an adoration for the preciousness of our natural world, and its exquisite fragility.
MAY - NOV 
I am overjoyed to be invited as Artist in Residence with Paro College of Education Paro, Bhutan! This is amazing opportunity to explore another culture and make work which synthesises Eartern and Western aesthetics, sensibitities and cosmologies.
I will be making ephemeral land art as well as studio work and teaching workshops.
Here are examples of some works to date (July)
.
2023
AUG
Seeding | Receding wins NBEADP PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
I am thrilled to announce that this work won the People's Choice Award for the Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize,
Artist Statement :
Seeds and seedpods carry within them both symbolic and real promise and hope for the restoration of the natural environment. With so much at stake in our environment these droplets filled with seeds offer abundance and biodiversity.
Underlying that, this pair of works speak to and embody the notion of an infinite exchange of matter between formed and formless. There is an apparent paradox in their titles, with the white paper pockets of ‘air-seeds’ titled Seeding which emerge from their background seemingly ‘dissolving’ but also ‘becoming’ and similarly the actual seeds and seedpods titled Receding, seemingly solid yet also in a process of dissolving. Between these two states of being, birth and death dance their timeless pas de deux in which we humans are thoroughly entwined. Although each appears self-contained, together they dance with the perpetual movement of change and carry the potential flourishing for us all on this beautiful planet Earth.
JULY - AUGUST
Mending and Tending, 'ADAPTATION' - CLIMATE CONVERSATIONS, Byron Shire Council Inaugural Award and Grant
Lidia's Way - ART IN NATURE 111 - THE MOMENT OF CREATION - 'NAT' ART RESIDENCY SPAIN
I was thrilled to be invited to this fellowship, to participate in an immersive residency propelled by visiting paleolithic rock paintings in the caves of Cantabria. Created by SMPROART team and in collaboration with The Museum of Nature Cantabria this was an adventure into the history of humans and the language of 'Art'. Open ended and non presriptive, this experience was an opprtunity to experiment outside my usual practice. Working outdoors in a river I created a series of works including performance, ephemeral art and photography. The final work is titled El Camino De Lidia - Lidia's Way. LIDIA was a name written on a rock i found in the river. I am so grateful to Andrea and Gabriel the directors of the program and The Museum of Cantabria and the residents of the town Correjo.
TO VIEW MORE IMAGES OF MY WORK - El Camino De Lidia - Lidia's Way
2022
OCT
I am very honoured and excited that my One A Day Ephemeral Art Project (2014/15) is now included, as one of the case studies, in the just released online NSW government CREATE NSW Public Art Toolkit pg 145/146. It is so wonderful to have this nature-based, small-scale and sensitive work and practice showcased amongst illustrious works and artists . I am deeply grateful to Ashley Collis for her insight and vision to embrace and include my work.
COMMISSION - Shimmer 120 x120 x 7 cm
Constucted from materials (feathers, snake skin, palm inflorescence and casaurina) collected predominantly by a family on the NSW Central Coast this work is inspired and derives from the ecosystem that surrounds them and natural materials they have found and collected. This assemblage relates directly to the family and the place they live and love, a celebration of the natural world around them which is a source of great joy and peace.
2018
Feature in COLOSSAL