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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 20 yrs. Shona is the creator of the One A Day Ephemeral Art Project which has inspired people worldwide.
Shona currently lives and works on the NSW mid north coast - Worimi Country - and is represented by Arthouse Gallery in Sydney and Artvisory in Melbourne Australia.

artist's statement

Bridging Art and Nature - Studio | Ephemeral  Land Art | Workshops

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.

In 2014 I created the One A Day Ephemeral Art Project which was delivered online and resulted in a book. I translated my studio based processes of creating work with natural found materials in an intimate scale to a spontaneous and short time frame outdoors, to create a unique Ephemeral Art process.This has become another tool and method to explore, share and be in the world with mindful curiosity and wonder.  This practice directly informs my Collaborations with Nature - Ephemeral Art Workshops and has recently been included in the NSW Goverenment CREATE NSW Public Art Toolkit .

My engagement with the natural world has led me to realising the disengagement many young people have with Nature. Looking to our future, a question must arise. How can we care for something we do not know? 

NEWS

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 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) 

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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.

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